Infinity Verse Spotlights
by TheBaneOfHumanity
Summary: (INFINITY VERSE) The universe is massive, and within it are many stories. Tales of great heroism and villainy that often go unseen. These are the stories of those who reside within the Infinity Verse.
1. Jet Jaguar

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so here's a little something that'll be in the vain of Transformers: Spotlight with a dash of Marvel Team Up from time to time. This will focus on smaller stories within the Infinity Verse, and kicking things off is one my collaborator wrote with an interesting first character to put the focus on.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Jet Jaguar: Heavy Metal

* * *

"He's staring at us."

"He's not staring at us."

"Dude, he totally is!"

"If he is then it's because you're staring at him!"

"Well, he started it!"

"Odd, just stop staring at him if it bothers you that much," Yumi ordered.

"I'll stop when he stops!" Odd shot back.

"Quiet, he'll hear you!" Jeremy said in a hushed voice.

"I'm sure he can hear us regardless," Aelita mentioned.

"I'm going over there," Odd suddenly declared, standing up from his seat as he did.

"Odd, sit down and eat your lunch," Ulrich told him.

"I can't when he's staring at us!" the cat-themed hero argued, pointing at the object of his irritation as he did.

The person in question that the French teen was currently pointing to was a robot who was sitting alone in Skyward Tower's mess hall at the table across from the Lyoko gang. Robots were nothing new to the League. In fact, two of their lead members were mechanical in origin. However, this robot in question was not like Jenny or the Autobots, for this android was far stranger than the others within the team.

His name was Jet Jaguar, and he was by far one of the most unique members of the Infinity League. The tale of this robotic hero was an interesting one to say the least. Built by a scientist named Dr. Goro Ibuki back in 1973, Dr. Ibuki created Jet Jaguar as the ultimate form of robotics at the time. However, it soon became clear that Jet Jaguar had become more than what his creator had intended him to be when the android suddenly grew to an enormous height and fought alongside Godzilla against the villainous Kaiju, Megalon and Gigan, who were under the control of a race of underground dwelling beings called the Seatopians.

After fighting back the monsters, it became quite clear to Jet Jaguar's creator that his android had no business being a mere servant and allowed the sentient machine to make his own decisions and freed him to do as he pleased, to which the robot made the choice to join G-Force, serving as an ally and extra muscle in their seemingly never ending war with the Kaiju that plagued the earth. For years, Jet Jaguar fought countless monsters and aided in the relief efforts in the aftermath of every battle. It was because of these acts of heroism and others that the android had earned the attention of the Infinity League, who offered him a place among their team, to which he accepted. However, it was rather difficult for the android to connect with his new teammates. While he was by no means outdated, he was unable to communicate with those around him, nor could he understand human emotion that well either.

When he wasn't out on a mission, Jet Jaguar often came to the mess hall, sat down at an empty table, and would watch the other League members around him, carefully studying their behavior. Although now it would seem that his studies on his organic teammates were distressing the Lyoko Warriors. Not wanting to cause any further disruption to the group, Jet Jaguar promptly stood up from his seat and began to make his way out of the mess hall.

"Now look what you've done!" Aelita scolded her friend. "You've upset him!"

"Way to go, Odd," Ulrich added.

"What? Lunch is a scared thing to me and he was interrupting it!" the cat-boy defended.

Already knowing that her friend wasn't going apologize for his actions, Aelita took it upon her self to make peace with the sentient machine. The pink-haired girl got up from her chair and quickly caught up with Jet Jaguar.

"Excuse me," she began, catching the android's attention. "I just wanted to apologize for my friend's actions. Odd can...well...live up to his name."

Jet Jaguar stood in silence and allowed the girl to continue.

"We didn't mean to offend you," she furthered. "I know you're new here and are still getting used to everyone, but no one here wants you to feel isolated. If you'd like, you can sit with us until our patrol shift starts."

Before Jet Jaguar could make any sound as an answer, a holographic projection of a pair of female lips suddenly materialized in front of the two superheroes. This was Sheila, Shezow's A.I assistant who had been uploaded into the tower's computer systems in order to be of service to the Infinity League as well as contact them from anywhere within Skyward Tower should they be needed for a mission or anything else of importance. It was originally going to be Teletraan-1 who was to be apart of the Tower's systems, but the Cybertronian tech was far too advanced for the tower to process, and, more so, Optimus did not feel comfortable with allowing his people's technology in a place were the GJN could try to study it.

"Ah! There you are, Jet Jaguar!" the A.I said in a panicked tone. "We need you to get to Angel Grove at once!"

"What's the problem, Sheila?" Aelita asked.

"It's the Power Rangers, they're in danger!" Sheila replied. "They're under attack by the Decepticons Combiners. From what Alpha-5 told us in his distress call, he says that the Megazord is already down and Tiger Zord is taking a beating. They won't be able to last much longer without help!"

"What about the Autobots and their Combiners?" the digital angel questioned. "Or our heavy hitters for that matter?"

"The Autobots are still tied up with helping G-Force fight off Dogara and Orga in Osaka," Sheila informed her. "Jenny, Danny and Shezow are still in the midst of tracking Shadaloo in Italy, and the Powerpuff Girls are currently busy fighting Him in Townsville. We also can't get a hold of the Crystal Gems either. Some nonsense about going to space or something."

Sheila then 'looked' back at Jet Jaguar.

"Jet Jaguar, your the only one here who can stand a chance against the Combiners," she informed him. "We need you to hold them off long enough until backup arrives."

"But it'll be three against one!" Aelita stated. "He'll be out numbered!"

"If we don't do anything, then the Power Rangers will die!" Shelia reminded her.

Jet Jaguar knew that the A.I was right. If he declined, then the Earth would loose some of its mightiest defenders. Without giving it another thought, he did the only reasonable answer to this situation: he gave Sheila a thumbs up.

* * *

Tommy could taste his own blood in his mouth upon waking up. That last punch from Menasor had knocked him against the wall and rendered him unconscious for a moment. The alarms were blaring in his ears within the control room of the Tiger Zord. He struggled to his feet and made an attempt to retake the controls of his Zord, but was thrown around the room once more when Devastator kicked the side of his mech, sending it flying several feet in doing so. Bruticus then stompped on the Tiger Zord's back to keep from getting back up.

The Rangers had faced countless monsters before, but the Combiners we're an entirely different beast altogether. Zedd and Rita's monsters were slow, arrogant and sometimes just downright dimwitted, but the Decepticon war machines were more intelligent (though only just in the case of Bruticus) and they could work as a team unlike the the monsters they had slain in the past. The only good this to come out of this beating was that they had managed to keep the trio of robots out of the city and keep the fight in an open field for the most part.

"Guys, come in," Tommy tried to hail the other Rangers over his helmet's COMM. "Billy, Rocky, Adam...can any of you guys hear me?"

Static was the only answer the White Ranger could hear on the other end of the line, making him fear the worst. From the view screen within his Zord, he could see the Thunder Megazord lying on the ground in a seemingly lifeless heap, making the leader of the Power Rangers dread the thought of his friends already being dead. Suddenly, Tommy heard the sound of the door to his Zord's control room being forcefully opened. Fearing that it was one of Soundwave's minions such as Frenzy or Rumble, the leader of the Rangers tried his best to shake off the pain in his body and readied himself for the oncoming attack. However, instead of a killer alien robot breaking down the doors, it was a friendly face.

"Ulrich!" he said with a sigh of relief. "Boy am I'm glad to see you!"

"Good to see you're still in one piece, White Ranger," the sword wielding speedster said. "Let's get you out of here."

"I'm not leaving without the other Rangers!" Tommy declared. "And we can't leave the Zords behind!"

"The rest of my team is getting the other Rangers to safety," Ulrich assured. "But we can't move the Zords."

"We can't leave them behind, that's what Megatron wants!" the White Ranger said. "He sent the Combiners here to take the Zords back to their base and harness their power to make new weapons for his army!"

"Well, he's not getting his hands on them," Ulrich said as he pointed at the view screen. "He won't let them."

Tommy turned around to see, via his view screen, a human sized, multi-colored robot standing defiantly before the three towering machines, who clearly didn't perceive the newcomer as a credible threat.

"Who the hell is that?" the Ranger's leader asked.

"Oh, you are in for a treat," Ulrich replied with a small smirk.

Suddenly, the tiny robot began to grow at rapid pace, stunning both the Cons and the Rangers. Within seconds, the once small android now stood as tall as the three Combiners he was facing off against.

"Who the frag is this guy?" Menasor said to the other giants.

"Bruitcus not care!" the Combaticons' merged form answered. "We crush him!"

The Combaticon Combiner was the first to attack Jet Jaguar with a lunging strike with his fist. Acting quickly, the android grabbed Bruticus by the arm and hip-threw him to the ground before doing a spin-kick that knocked Menasor several feet backwards. Before Jet Jaguar could keep up the assault, Devastator blindsided him with a surprise punch across his face, forcing him to stumble back from the hit. Still reeling from the hit, Jet Jaguar failed to notice that Bruticus had recovered and had since gotten back to his feet to assist his fellow Combiner in the attack by punching the android in the chest before grabbing him by the face and slamming him into the ground.

"Not so tough now, huh?" the Constructicon Combiner mocked.

Jet Jaguar let out a metallic roar as his answer before running at Devastator at full speed to deliver a flying kick to his chest that sent the Combiner crashing into a recovering Menasor. He then put his his arms around a bewildered Bruticus' waist before throwing him backwards in a suplex. While the Stunticon Combiner tried to get back to his feet, Jet Jaguar grabbed the alien machine and lifted him high over his head with every once of his strength before hurling the mechanical titan right into a still recovering Devastator, knocking him back down. The android's victory was short lived, however, when Bruticus punched him in the back of the head, making the robot stumble forward. The Combiner then took hold of Jet Jaguar's head and slammed him into the ground repeatedly. After several blows to the head, Bruticus' captive suddenly elbowed him in the chest with a strong enough blow to make him let go.

As Jet Jaguar got back to his feet, he heard the sound of the other two Combiners charging toward him. Anticipating this, the android did a sudden back flip over the other two, landing behind the other two giant machines in the process. While Devastator and Menasor were caught off guard by the sudden move, Jet Jaguar took hold of each Combiners by the head and slammed them together, stunning them both from the impact monetarily. This gave Jet Jaguar the chance to ready himself for another attack, but before he could do so, he was suddenly struck by a surprise barrage of motor fire. The heroic robot looked to see that Bruticus had been firing volleys of cannon fire from his back. The cannon fire forced Jet Jaguar to his knees as the shelling on his person continued. With their opponent down, Devastator and Menasor also joined in on attack by kicking and punching Jet Jaguar while he was down.

Meanwhile, the Lyoko Warriors had since managed to get the Rangers to safety while Jet Jaguar kept the Combiners busy, but as the two teams watched the beating the robot was taking from a nearby hillside, they could feel remorse and sadness at the sight before them.

"We've gotta do something!" the Red Ranger said to the others.

"There's noting we can do, your Zords are to damaged to fight," Ulrich reminded him.

"That's true, but we can still help him out," Yumi said before turning to the wounded Rangers. "We need your weapons."

Already understanding what the girl was getting at, the Power Rangers handed their weapons over to the Lyoko Warriors, who quickly combined them into the Mega Power Bow. Once they had done this, the Lyoko Warriors held the weapon in place for Odd to take the shot. The target in question was Bruticus' optics, which, even for a sharpshooter like Odd, was a difficult one to hit.

"Smile you son of bitch!" he shouted. "I've always wanted to say that."

"Just shoot the damn thing!" Ulrich shouted.

As commanded, Odd pulled the trigger and fired the bow. The beam flew through the air at a rapid pace before striking the Combaticon Combiner's optics, blinding him upon impact. As Bruticus wailed in agony from the surprise attack, he was forced to break off from his attack. The other two Combiners also stopped their beating and looked back at their fellow Decepticon, wondering what had hurt him. This gave Jet Jaguar the chance to roll away from his attackers and grab both the Thunder Megazord's Power Sword and the Tiger Zord's sword in each hand. He jumped to his feet just as Devastator and Menasor realized that they had left their prey untenanted to and turned around to see the android now back on his feet and holding two swords in each hand.

Before either Decepticon could react, Jet Jaguar sped toward the two bewildered machines and slashed them both in half in a single clean strike. The attack forced the two Combiners to disassemble back into their separate beings. Jet Jaguar stared down at his now diminished foes before roaring at them, making the two respective Combiner teams flee in terror. Now left with only one enemy, the heroic machine turned his attention toward Bruticus, who had since regained his eyesight. The damage Jet Jaguar had taken from the fight was immense, but he forced himself to shake it off for one last attack. With everything he had, he hurled both blades into the Combiners chest before running up to his enemy and grabbing him by the waist. With every ounce of strength he had left, Jet Jaguar tore Bruticus in half, forcing the Combaticons to revert back to their original selves.

Like the others, Onslaught and his team knew they were beaten and quickly fled the battlefield. With his foes defeated, Jet Jaguar put the swords down and looked over to to the humans heroes he had protected, who were currently cheering at his victory. Just then, the android again fell to his knees. His injuries had finally gotten the better of him. The android reverted to his regular size as the Rangers and the Lyoko Warriors ran to his side. The last thing he saw was the image of the group standing over him with a collected look of concern on their faces.

* * *

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" Aelita asked with worry in her voice.

Ratchet looked away from his patient and turned his attention back to the pink-haired angel. After beating back the Combiners, Jet Jaguar was rushed back to Skyward Tower in order for the Autobot medic to look him over. The Rangers had also been brought to the Tower to receive medical aide as well, which they were currently getting from Stanford Pines, who was the the League's resident metahuman physician.

"He'll be fine," Ratchet assured the angel. "Jet Jaguar may have taken some serious hits, but his body is healing itself via auto-repair."

"Then why isn't he moving?" Yumi inquired.

"He's in what can only be described in a term we Autobots call a stasis-lock," Ratchet explained. "He had to power down in order for his systems to repair the damage he took. He should be back online in less then a week by my estimate."

Just then, a loud crash echoed through the med-bay, making everyone turn to see Odd standing there with a broken piece of equipment.

"Odd, I needed that!" the Autobot scolded.

"What? I wasn't doing anything!" Odd shot back.

"Let's go, fumbles," Ulrich said as he and the other Lyoko Warriors departed from the med-bay.

As they left, Aelita turned to take one last look at her team's protector. It was then that she saw the android's hand slowly form a thumbs up to her, making her smile at the sight.


	2. Dipper Pines

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Dipper Pines: The Secrets We Keep

* * *

"Again!" April said to her two students.

Dib was breathing hard at this point. Nearly a half-hour of sparring with his opponent had drained the paranormal investigator of nearly all of his energy. He wasn't exactly accustom to fighting, but, as April had said to convince him to be a part of her self-defense classes, if he wanted to defeat Zim in a hand-to hand fight, then he needed to know how to fight in the first place. However, while the big-headed teen was starting to feel drained of his strength, the same could not be said for his opponent for this match. The challenger was slightly taller than him and had been putting in more hours in his training than Dib did. He wasn't muscular like Danny, Kim or the Ninja, but he did have some small viable muscles like Marco did. This was Mason 'Dipper' Pines, and he was about to mop the floor with the big-headed kid for the fifth time in a row now.

When the Infinity League had first formed, Mason, his twin sister, Mabel, their great-uncle, Ford, their friend, Soos, and Mason's girlfriend, Wendy, were recruited by Danny as among the many the original six members of the League had set out to recruit. The group said yes, but while Ford and Wendy were instantly cleared for field duty, the same could not be said for the twins and their heavyset friend. Granted, while Dipper and his sister had experience fighting monsters, aliens and a reality-bending demon, they didn't have any experience fighting in a real combat situation. Soos remained on the Tower as its chief custodian while juggling his time as a owner of the Mystery Shack and was content with that. The same could not be said for the twins, who wished to be on the front lines like Ford and Wendy. But, without any proper training, the best the League could offer them at the moment was guard duty for Mabel and Telepad controls for Mason.

Seeing that they were capable of so much more, April O'Neil, a friend of the Ninja Turtles and a master martial artist herself, offered to train the twins and others such as Dib in hand to hand combat and stealth. Once they earned her clearance, her students would be allowed to go field missions. Admittedly, the Pines siblings were at first slow learners, but in time, they had began to master the basic arts of Ninjitsu. It also helped that the twins had recently gone through a bit of a growth spurt. True, they had only grown only a foot taller than before, but it gave them a bit of an edge in their training, such as beating Dib's face in...again.

The paranormal investigator let out a battle cry before lunging at Mason, who only stayed in his battle stance. Dib made the first move with a right hook, but Dipper easily countered the attack and twisted the big-headed boy's arm behind his back. He then kicked out Dib's legs out from under him, thus forcing him to fall to his knees. If Mabel wasn't on guard duty, she'd be laughing her head off at the sight before her.

"It's not like your even trying," Mason said as he released his hold on his teammate.

"I am trying!" Dib defended. "You're just better than me!"

"You're going to fight a lot of people who are better fighters than you," his teacher informed him. "The trick is to be the smarter fighter."

"Which I'm also better at than you," Mason added with a smirk at the other boy. "Just FYI."

Dib sneered at that remark before getting back on his feet and storming out of the training room, all the while swearing under his breath.

"Excellent work as always, Mason," April praised. "You and your sister are among the top of the class."

"Not like its that hard," Dib's sister, Gaz, remarked dryly as she continued to play her Game Slave 2.

Aside from from the twins, the only other students who April trained were Dib and his sister, who mostly sat in the corner and played on her game console the entire time. April would normally tell the goth to switch off her game and train like the others, but in all honesty, she was creeped out by the girl.

"You think Mabel and I are good enough to be cleared for active duty?" he asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," the redhead replied. "You're good, but you've got a bit more training until your ready for any field missions."

A quick flash of anger stung Dipper's mind, making him clench his fist in the process. April was the only person who could allow the Pines siblings to go on missions with the other heroes, but only when she decided they were ready, which at this rate could take forever. The gesture did not go unnoticed by his master, who wished to defused the situation.

"I can understand how you feel, Mason," she began. "When I started training with Master Splinter, I wanted so badly to get on the same level as Donnie and the others, but this takes time. I have no doubt that you two will be great fighters, but until then, you just have to stick to your training."

"Alright..." was all Mason said to that, still showing his discontent for her answer.

"I think that's enough for today," his teacher said. "We'll pick this up tomorrow."

With that, April left the training room while Mason stayed behind in order to gather up his things.

"You know, it's funny," Gaz noted as she approached the teen. "One moment, you and your sister straight up suck at this, and the next thing you know, you're the prized pupils."

"I attribute it to a good training regiment, a healthy diet and a well-timed growth spurt," Mason brushed off with a small laugh.

"Cut the shit, Pines," the goth girl said sharply. "What are you taking?"

In that moment, Dipper stopped what he was doing for a moment before sighing in defeat. He knew he couldn't hide this from Gaz.

"You really want to know?" he asked as he finished gathering up his stuff. "Follow me."

* * *

Mason lead Gaz back to his and his sister's quarters on the tower. After letting her in, he went over to a nearby drawer and began to rummage around in it before pulling out a small object. He then tossed it over to the goth for her to look over. It was a little orange bottle that contained black and red oval-shaped pills on it with a 'V' on each one.

"Did you know that before he made the Powerpuff Girls, Professor Utonium had a military contract?" Mason began. "He was working on a drug that could enhance a soldier's strength, speed and agility without any addiction to it. He called it Chemical V."

"Let me guess: it didn't work?" Gaz conculded.

"Oh no, it did," Dipper corrected. "But only for people with a certain blood type. Those who didn't, well...let's just say they had a bad time. So, he shelved it."

"And I'm guessing that you and Mabel have the right blood type?" the creepy girl surmised. "How did you steal these from Utonium?"

"I didn't steal anything," the boy said. "Professor Utonium gave them to us after Ford told him that we were having difficulty in our training and he offered Chemical V to us as a way to keep up with everyone here."

"And you haven't told anyone about these because why?" Gaz questioned.

"Because no one's asked," Mason answered. "You can tell everyone if you'd like. Mabel and I haven't done anything wrong. I was telling you the truth when I said that the training and the growth-spurt were the reasons we were getting ahead. These are just helping us. And honestly, I think this isn't any different from what some of the League's members have done to themselves."

"You mean train, be chosen to wield their gifts, get powers by accident or were just built that way?" Gaz responded sarcastically. "Yeah, they'd totally understand taking experimental drugs just so you can feed your ego."

Mason sneered at that before walking up to Gaz, who stood her ground with her regular scowl on her face.

"You said Utonium didn't give this to the military because it didn't work for everyone," she continued. "But I wonder: maybe it was because it also had some nasty side-effects too."

"You got your answer, now get out," Mason ordered in a stern voice before snatching the pills out of her hand.

"Whatever," Gaz shrugged off.

With that, she turned away and began to walk out the room. Just as she was was about to open the door, it opened before she could reach out and activate the panel. Standing before her was Wendy, who had obviously stopped by to see her boyfriend.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked curiously.

"Nope, just your boyfriend being an asshole," the purple-haired girl mentioned. "Be seeing you at the next training session, Pines."

With that, Gaz left the room, thus leaving Dipper and Wendy finally alone.

"She's so not your type," the redhead joked.

"Don't I know it?" Dipper replied with a small chuckle. "I prefer my girls to be a bit more rough and tumble."

Wendy laughed at that. Normally, if a woman walked in on her boyfriend with another woman, there would be a fight, or at the very least some harsh questions. However, Wendy knew that her lover was 100% loyal to her and only her. Besides, Gaz didn't strike her as the 'homewrecker' type. It was then that the lumberjack's daughter noticed the bottle of pills in Dipper's hand.

"New bottle?" she asked.

"Yep," Mason confirmed. "Got it from Utonium today."

"And you're taking the proper dosage, right?" Wendy furthered.

Mason didn't answer her right away.

"Right?" she repeated.

"Yes!" her lover answered a bit to sharply. "I'm only taking as much as he told me."

Wendy nodded at that, but still had her suspicions. When the twins told her about the new drugs they were taking, she was admittedly apprehensive about the whole thing, but after Professor Utonium himself explained what Chemical V was and how it was helping them, she pulled back. Yet at the same time, she still worried for her boyfriend's safety. The father of the Powerpuff Girls had told the Pines siblings to only take two a day or else they would fall victim to the drug's side-effect, which was aggression. But if their time in Gravity Falls had taught her anything, it was that Dipper had a tendency to sometimes go overboard.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "It's just that Gaz was in here talking shit about my training."

"Don't let her bother you," the ginger reassured with a kiss on the cheek. "You'll be out there with me soon enough."

"Thanks, babe," Mason said softly. "So, how was your day?"

"Ugh, sucked," Wendy groaned. "This Red Talon junk is driving everyone nuts!"

Red Talon. That was the name of the latest supervillain on the scene that the League had to deal with, and so far, he was beating them at every turn. It started with a break-in at Dr. Wakeman's lab a few weeks ago, leading to the theft of several of the doctor's schematics of Jenny's systems. The Red Talon managed to escape into the night before the League could arrive to stop him. A two weeks later, another break-in occurred, this time at the home of Professor Utonium. The League arrived to again try and capture the masked villain, but he once more evaded them and made off with Chemical Y, an agent that worked as an antidote for Chemical X. Recently, the third break-in occurred in the very home of the Ninja Turtles, who were mostly out with the exception of Donnie, who was working late in his lab. The Red Talon broke in, managed to stun Donnie with a tranquilizer dart and stole a fresh batch of retro-mutagen.

Whoever the Red Talon was under his mask, he was smart, knew what he was after and, most importantly, he knew how to bypass everyone's security easily. What made him even more of a threat was that he seemed to know everyone's weakness, making some of the members of the League to believe that he was either a genius, or that he was getting help from an inside source. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but the League was starting to fear that there was a traitor among them.

"Any new leads?" Mason inquired.

"Just two," Wendy said as she flopped down on her lover's bed. "Jack and shit, and Jack left town."

"That good, huh?" her lover gathered.

"That's the thing Dipper, he's too good!" Wendy furthered. "He's been stealing junk that can do some real damage to some of the League's strongest members and its starting to freak people out!"

"I wish I could be out there helping you guys, Wendy," Mason said glumly.

"Then you'd only hear Kim and Danny barking orders in your ear," his girlfriend in formed him. "Trust me, sometimes these missions aren't what they're cracked up to be."

It was then that Wendy reached out and took hold of Dipper by the shirt and pulled him down on top of her.

"But let's not talk about work," she said in a bit more of a lustful tone. "I've got something else on my mind."

"Oh? Do tell," Mason replied with a smirk before kissing her deeply.

Wendy kissed him back while her lover's hand traveled down her side and down toward her pants. But just before they could go any further, a certain A.I. suddenly materialized in the room.

"Jesus Christ, Sheila!" Dipper exclaimed as and Wendy got up. "Haven't you heard of knocking?!"

"You two can do the nasty on your own time, Dipper," the A.I. answered snidely. "Right now, Wendy is being requested for a mission."

"But I just got back from one!" the ginger argued.

"And now you're needed for another," Sheila replied. "Danny's orders."

With that, Sheila departed, leaving the young couple alone again.

"I'm sorry, babe," Wendy apologized.

"It's okay, Wendy," Dipper assured. "I'm going off duty anyway, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright," Wendy said before kissing him again. "Love you."

"Love you too," Dipper replied.

With another kiss between them, the lumberjack's daughter departed, leaving Dipper alone in his room. Once she had left, the teen opened the bottle and took four pills out for him to consume. The rush of energy it gave him was immense, and it gave him the focus he needed for what he was planning to do tonight. He then switched off the tracker in his communicator. It was time to go to work.

* * *

After Wheeljack teleported him back down to Gravity Falls, Mason made his way toward the former Northwest Mansion, which was now home to one Fiddleford McGucket. A mad prospector and inventor who the teen had been employing for the past few weeks now. McGucket had helped the boy build a suit that he had been using as of late, one that he was going to use once again. When Mason opened the doors, he found the old madman in the midst of trying to build some machine of some kind. When he saw the teen enter, he instantly stopped.

"Is it time, then?" he asked.

"It is," Dipper confirmed. "Let's get started."

McGucket went over to a nearby grandfather clock and spun the two hands on its face until it struck midnight. The clock then moved to the left to reveal a doorway with a staircase that lead downward into the depths below the manor. The two walked down the stairs and into an underground cave that held a large base filled with computers, weapons and a make-shift teleporter similar to the one in Skyward Tower. It had taken weeks to set up this facility in secret, but thanks to the enchantments Chemical V gave the teen both physically and mentally, not to mention the sheer brilliance of McGucket, it was much easier to accomplish.

"So, what are y'a hunting for tonight, boss?" McGucket inquired.

Mason went over to the computer where he then typed up an image on the screen for his ally to see. It was a green and silver bullet. One that Dipper had kept his eye on since its construction.

"This is an Ecto-Bullet," he began. "It's meant to destabilize the genetic make-up of any spectral being."

"So you can kill ghosts with it?" came another voice. "Can't imagine who'd you use that on."

Mason turned around to see his other great-uncle, Stan, approaching the two of them. Unlike the others, Stan wanted no part of being a member of the Infinity League, calming that he had dealt with enough insanity as it was. But when Dipper came to him one night to tell him what he had planned, he offered his aid to his grand-nephew. Since then, he had repaired Mason's suit, patched him up whenever he was hurt and above all else: he kept his secrets.

"So, where is this dohicky anyway?" Stan continued.

"Its at Fenton Works," Mason answered. "I'm going to steal from the Fentons it before they can produce anymore."

"So you can build them yourself, right?" the con-artist gathered.

"I only need the one bullet," his nephew corrected. "One shot is all I need."

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you let your sister and the others in on what you were doing," Stan mentioned. "They could at least cover for you in case anyone starts catching on."

Ever since Mason had begun this crusade, he made it his point to keep this a secret from his friends and family. As much as it pained him to keep this from them, it was necessary to carry out this task without them knowing, fearing that they wouldn't understand. He could only pray that his mission would be justified.

"You are the last person on this planet to tell me not to keep secrets," Dipper said harshly.

"Exactly, and look where that got us in the past," Stan countered. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't follow my example!"

"They wouldn't understand, Stan" his grand-nephew replied. "What I'm doing would only confuse them. They'd think I've-"

"What? Become a supervillain?" Stan cut him off sharply. "Because it seems to me that you're doing that all by yourself!"

Mason snarled as he suddenly reached out and grabbed his great-uncle by his shirt before hoisting him into the air. It took him a good few seconds to realize what he was doing before quickly putting him back down.

"I...I'm so-" he attempted to say.

"Just suit up and get going," Stan told him.

Knowing that there was nothing else he could say at this point, Dipper pressed a button on his computer that activated a glass case to rise from the ground that contained his suit. The suit was all black with silver armored shin guards, chest plate, boots and gauntlets with red claws at the end of them. It had a long red cape with a large, frilled collar on the back of it. The hawk-like mask was crimson with green lens that could see at night and in infra-red. The suit also contained various compartments that contained different tools, gadgets and weapons that Mason used to carry out his missions.

For Mason Pines was the Red Talon.

"Ready the teleporter, McGucket," he ordered. "Set the location for Paris first. There's something I need to pick up before the fun begins."

* * *

After getting what he needed to complete his mission in Paris, Mason ordered Fiddleford to teleport him to Amity Park. Due to the shield that surrounded the building, the masked teen had to be sent several blocks away from the Fentons' home, thus making him travel the rest of the way on foot. However, traveling on foot was perhaps an understatement, since he had something built for just this occasion. He reached behind his back and pulled out a small metal device that was attached to his armor. With one flick of his wrist, he unfolded it into a glider that he climbed on before taking off toward the building.

At this point in his mission, he knew that the rest of the League was no doubt starting to catch on to what he was after and would probably have stationed a few of the League members around the area to keep the Ecto-Bullet out of his grasp. Thankfully, he knew that several major players in the League would be tied up with the mess Steven had dropped on the League's lap. Well, 'mess' was probably the wrong word for it, but what the gem-human hybrid did caused quite the upheaval for both the League and the GJN.

Recently, Steven and his family had returned to Earth after traveling to the Gem Homeworld. While the Crystal Gems were still debriefing the League and the GJN, what was known was that they not only had to find a place for the newly reformed Gems from Rose's army, but were also finding themselves allied with Homeworld as well. This gave Mason the perfect distraction to carry out his heist for the night.

Suddenly, the fake-villain's gilder was struck by a sudden impact from a strong blast from below, forcing him fall on top of a nearby rooftop. His attacker leapt from his hiding place to reveal himself as the Ninja, who was no doubt leading the squad protecting Fenton Works.

"Ninja to all points, I've got him," He said into his communicator. "I'll hold him until you get here."

Mason figured that it would be the Ninja that would be the one he had to face, considering that he wasn't the one to sit around and listen to anything regarding the paperwork the League had to do. What he wasn't expecting, however, was facing him so early. Mason had training, but he wasn't even in the same class the protector of Norrisville was in.

"My advice: give up now, before this gets ugly," the Ninja advised as he drew his sword. "We know what you're up to. You've been stealing weaknesses for the League, and we weren't about to let you get your claws on that Ecto-Bullet."

"Walk away, Ninja," Red Talon warned through his mask's voice modifier. "I'd rather not waste my time with you."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing," the black-clad hero answered.

It was then that Mason reached into one of his suits compartments. Rather than try to stop him, the Ninja scoffed at him.

"Give it up, bird-brain," he said. "I don't have a weakness."

"Oh, but you do," his adversary corrected. "One that I've already prepared for."

With that, Dipper pulled out a small camera and flipped the screen on to show an image that shook the Ninja to his core. It was was his lover, Rena Rouge, tied up against a pole within what looked like an old warehouse with a bomb vest strapped to her body. The very sight of his lover in such a state made the Ninja nearly drop his weapon in horror.

"This is a live feed in case you were wondering," Mason added. "The bomb is set to go off in thirty minutes. That was fifteen minutes ago."

"You bastard!" the Ninja snarled.

"I'm willing to tell you where she is if you let me go," Red Talon offered. "Refuse, and the next word the fox says is 'boom.'"

The Ninja stood silent, unable to move or even so much as think of anything else other than the thought of the woman he loved being blown apart. However, he knew that if he let Red Talon go, then his teammates would be put in future danger.

"Tick-tock, Ninja," the Red Talon furthered. "By my count, I'd say she's only got about twelve minutes to go now."

The Ninja lowered his weapon, a silent sign that he had relented to the villain's demands.

"Good choice," Mason said. "She's on 5th and Porter Street. I'd hurry if I were you."

The Ninja shot Red Talon a fierce glare as he took out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground, vanishing into a cloud of orange smoke. Mason knew that when the Ninja arrived that he'd find Rena Rouge tied up alone without any real explosives on her person. He needed the distraction to get the two heroes out of the way, but he was still unsure as to who else was among the Ninja's squad. Hopefully, since the Ninja forgot to tell the others what he was doing that he could have some time to get a bit of a head start to Fenton Works before they caught on.

However, that plan was instantly dashed when a massive shadow came down from above Mason, forcing him to leap out of the way of the incoming figure from above him.

"Your reign of terror ends here," Goliath, leader of the Manhattan Clan, declared. "Surrender now, and I swear no harm will come to you."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Mason replied.

"So be it," the Gargoyle said in a low tone.

Even with his gear, Goliath outclassed Dipper by a long-shot. He had hundreds of years of battle experience and was vastly stronger and faster than any human. It was then that Mason heard the sound of others jumping onto the rooftop behind him. He glanced behind him to see a member of the Ninja Turtles, Donatello, and another Miraculous holder, Queen Bee, there, ready to take him down. Now Mason was truly in for it if he didn't think of something fast. If it was just Chloe, he could handle her, but Goliath and Donnie easily outmatched him in every way. He could fight them, sure, but his training was nowhere near the level it was for the mutant and the gargoyle. Mason then glanced over to his still down glider, instantly giving him an idea in the process.

"I warned you to surrender," the leader of the Gargoyles continued. "Now you shall be taken by force, villain!"

"Sorry, but I'm kinda on a schedule," Red Talon answered as he put his behind his back. "Places to be, people to maim, you know how it goes."

As he kept the three heroes focused on his face, Mason began to reactivate his glider via his gauntlet's wrist computer. Suddenly, the glider sprang back to life as it flew toward Donnie and Queen at a rapid pace, making the two teen heroes jump out of the way. Goliath let out a roar as he lunged at his enemy, who narrowly evaded a swipe of his claws as he leapt back. Mason then quickly pulled out a flash-bang grenade and flew at the Gargoyle's feet. The bright, ear-splitting blast disoriented the winged beast long enough to get away from him. However, Donnie and Queen Bee blocked his escape route.

"Venom!" Chloe cried out as she activated her power.

With Donnie backing her up, she leapt toward Red Talon with the intent to stun him, but before she could do so with her attack, Mason dodged the sting, grabbed her arm and redirected the attack so that she struck Donnie instead. The sting from her venom instantly made the mutant remain still like a statue. Before Chloe could react to the mistake she just made, Mason round-house kicked her in the chest, forcing her to fall to the ground with the wind knocked out of her. Rather than keep fighting, Red Talon ran toward the edge of the building before jumping off it and landing on his glider in mid-flight. Every trick Dipper had pulled on his teammates weighed heavy on his conscience, but he reminded himself that everything he did was for a good cause, one that he hoped that the League and the world at large would soon thank him for.

As he was now half-way to his target, he heard a furious roar behind him. He turned around to see Goliath, who had clearly shaken off the effects of the flash-bag, gliding through the air in pursuit of the masked-thief, all the while his eyes shined with rage in them. Fighting Goliath was still on Dipper's 'do not want' list. Thankfully, he had something that he could at least use to slow the gargoyle down with. He tapped his foot on his glider, firing a net from it that wrapped around Goliath and forced him to tumble down toward another rooftop. Even with the net's steel wiring, Mason knew that the winged hero would still make short work of the net, meaning he had to move fast, or everything he had been planning would be all for nothing.

* * *

Jazz looked out her window for the fifth time now. It had become silent outside, and she was unsure if that was a good or bad thing. Danny had posted some of the League's finest members to guard their home, but from the stories she's heard about this Red Talon character, it was hard to say if anyone could stop him. Ever since Danny had joined the Infinity League, he had kept his identity a secret from his teammates, and while the others found it strange that a ghost would be working alongside a family of ghost hunters whom had hunted him at one point, he claimed that they had made peace with him. It was mostly due to the fact that Jazz's younger sibling was trying to kept them safe. But safe was just a shadow at this point, for a villain had arrived at their doorstep regardless of Danny's intentions.

While the Ninja lead a majority of the squad to ride out and face Red Talon head on, one of the members of the League had remained at home with the rest of Danny's family as a last line of defense. Although Jazz was a tad skeptical about the Ninja's choice in guarding the building, she trusted her brother's team none the less. Thankfully, the League bought the lie that Danny was safe at Sam's house during this whole mess.

Just as she was about to leave her room, an explosion tore down the wall from the outside. When the smoke cleared, it reveal the masked-villain hovering into her room atop his glider.

"Hello, my dear," he greeted a sinister tone.

Jazz let out a scream of terror as the villain jumped off his glider and roughly snatched her off the ground. She attempted to reach into her pocket and pull out her Fenton Ghost Peeler, but she was stopped when a blade shot out of Red Talon's gauntlet before he held it closer to her throat.

"Don't even try it," he warned her. "Now then, let's have a chat with your parents, shall we?"

It was at that moment that the door to Jazz's room was kicked open to allow her parents to storm into the room with their weapons drawn. The blasters were meant to be used on ghosts, but they'd still do quite bit of damage on Dipper regardless. Following behind the Fentons was a young woman dressed in a black and silver combat suit with a mouth piece covering the lower part of her face to hide her identity from those around her with her long red hair tied in a ponytail. Dipper's heart stopped upon seeing the League member before him.

It was Wendy, and she had her axe out, ready for a fight. Going by the code name 'Lumberjane' while out in the field, Wendy was among the few League members who had to wear a tactical suit and mask in order to safe guard her identity. Such was the case with other Infinity League members such as Penn and Sashi. Even Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita wore masks and had code names such as Swordsman, Geisha, Wild Kat and Angel.

Dipper's mind was in a full on panic. He couldn't bring himself to harm the woman he loved, nor could he leave here without the Ecto-Bullet. There was also no doubt in his mind that Goliath had already torn himself free of the net and was on his way here. Quickly gathering himself, Mason switched on his villainous facade once more.

"I'm going to make this simple, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," he began. "The bullet, or your daughter's head. You have ten seconds."

"Or about this instead, asshole," Wendy interjected. "Give up, and I won't break every bone in your body."

"Now it's five seconds," Red Talon said as he inched the blade closer to the teen's neck. "Four...three...two..."

"Wait!" Jack Fenton cried out. "You can have it, just please don't hurt our daughter!"

"You can't give him the bullet!" Wendy denied. "Who knows what he'll do with it"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the fake villain said before holding out his hand. "The bullet, please."

Jack begrudgingly rummaged around in his jumpsuit for several moments before taking it out and tossing the experimental weapon to the villain, who then pushed Jazz into the trio before him. Dipper said nothing. No petty threats, no mocks over the heroes, nothing. He had enough of this and just wanted to be done with it all. So, wordlessly, he raced out of the hole he made and jumped into the air, allowing his glider to catch him once again and allow him to fly off into the nights sky.

* * *

It wasn't before long that McGucket teleported Mason back to his secret lair where Stan was waiting for him with a cross look on his face. However, it wasn't just Stan and Fiddleford who were there waiting for him, but Mabel as well. Dipper stood there, shocked by the sight of his twin sibling in his secret lair and dressed as the very villain their team had tried to stop.

"I couldn't do it anymore, kid," Stan began. "She needed to know."

"Mabel, I can-" he tried to say.

"Take off that mask," she commanded. "I want you to look me in the eyes as you rip my heart out!"

Slowly, Mason removed the helmet from his person, revealing his face to his twin sister, who immediately began to let tears of anger flow from her eyes. The look on Mabel's face destroyed him on every level as she then stormed up to her brother and slapped him across the face. The hit hurt not only because of the Chemical V that flowed through her veins, but also in the betrayal he had put upon her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she shouted in his face. "The League allowed us to join them and you just go and stab them in the back?!"

"I had to do this, Mabel!" her brother shot back. "The League wouldn't understand if I tried to tell them!"

"Tell them what? That you're stealing stuff from them so that can kill them?!" Mabel snapped back.

"I was trying to keep them safe!" Mason exclaimed.

Mabel and Stan's eyes widen by that sudden testament. Before they could say anything else, Dipper continued.

"There's too many villains out there who want to exploit the League's weakness," he began. "You saw how easily I took out everyone, and I wasn't even trying to kill them! If I can do it, imagine if someone like Cobra Commander, or Black Hat, or even Megatron learned about all these things that could take out the League? I tried to tell them what might happen, but they wouldn't listen to me. So, I took it upon myself to bring everything that might harm the team to one secret location in order to keep them out of any villains' reach."

Mabel's look soften slightly, but her eyes still held a look of betrayal in them.

"You didn't even tell me..." she said tearfully. "I'm your sister, and you kept this from me..."

"I know, and I'm so sorry," he apologized deeply. "But I was afraid that if anyone outside of Stan and McGucket knew, then they League might catch on and I'd be stopped."

"So, not even the others know?" Mabel surmised. "You didn't even tell Soos, or Grunkle Ford, or even Wendy?"

"I did it to protect them," her sibling explained. "If they had known that I was the Red Talon, then they would've been arrested along with me for knowing who I was if I was caught. And you and I both know that even if I did tell them, they wouldn't rat me out."

Mabel was silent for several moments, trying to mentally process everything. It was then that Stan approached the twins in an attempt to speak up.

"Mabel, I'm sure that your brother-" he attempted to say.

"Don't even try to defend him!" she sneered. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just as guilty as he is!"

She then looked over to McGucket.

"And so are you!" she informed him.

"Hey, I just built the gizmos, I didn't tell your brother to go be a fake supervillain!" the inventor defended.

Mabel glared at him for several moments before looking back at her brother.

"This stops, Dipper. All of it," she said firmly. "I won't tell anyone this time. But so help me god if you put on that mask again, then I will go straight to Wendy and the others and tell them everything, and that's before I tell the rest of the League what you've done. And after they beat the piss out of you and lock you up, I will no longer see you as my brother. Do you understand me?"

"Mabel-"

"Do you understand me?" she repeated sharply.

"...yes" Mason compiled softly.

"Good," Mabel replied.

"Look, since you're here, there's something else I wanted to show you," her brother mentioned. "Something I wanted to surprise you with once it was ready."

"Oh good, more secrets," Mabel said sarcastically. "Not like they haven't destroyed this family before."

"I liked it better when you're happy, kid" Stan commented.

"I am pretty freaking far from happy right now, Grunkle Stan," his grand-niece answered before looking back at her brother. "Okay, Dipper, what is it?"

Mason lead his sister over to a small desk that had several blueprints on it. He took one off of the desk and handed it to his sister to look over. As Mabel gazed upon her brother's next project, she couldn't help but be impressed.

"I only have enough material to build one for now, but I swear I'm going to have one built for you too," he told her. "Think of it as a way of me saying 'I'm sorry.'"

"Well...it's a start," his sibling admitted. "But this time at least give the League a heads up before showing it off."

"I'll be sure to do so," Mason replied. "So, we good?"

"No, we're not," his twin denied. "Look just...give me time to process this, okay?"

Dipper nodded in understanding as Mabel, Stan and McGucket all exited the room. Mason then took out the Ecto-Bullet and looked it over. He had caused so much pain to those he loved over this and other items, but it needed to be done. While he had told Mabel half the truth that he was indeed keeping these things out of the villains' hands, he still wasn't being honest with her or even Stan and McGucket for that matter. The true reason he was stealing these items was that should ever one of the members of the League go rogue or be taken over by mind control, then he would use these weapons to take them down. He had every reason to do so. Danny once told them that he had become evil in a possible future and Jenny had been taken over multiple times by several villains, as had several other members of the Infinity League.

Even before his teammates had started pursing him, he had been stealing objects and weapons to combat each and every one of them, and while he no longer needed to be the Red Talon anyway since he stole his most vital tool to fight the League, there was still data he still needed to collect on a few of them in order to build proper counter-measures to use on them should they step out of line, which he could collect as his regular old self.

In the end, his secrets would either save the world one day, or have him be condemned for his actions against those who were his friends as the villain he pretended to be.


	3. Assassin Predator

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Assassin Predator: Most Dangerous Game part 1

* * *

"Did...did you do this to them?...Why would you do this to me?! I thought we were friends!"

"What are you saying? We were friends. That's why I didn't kill you."

The scene: a blood drenched train car in Japan, eight years ago. A boy, his shirt drenched in the blood of both his younger sister and his father, could only stare in shock and horror at the horned girl he had befriended, tears practically pouring from his eyes, as he knew that she was the one who committed this atrocity right in front of him.

"Now I'll kill that stupid girl."

It took the boy a few seconds to register just who she was referring to.

"What?...Yuka..."

By then, the girl had turned around and walked towards the door to the train car that was behind her. Still, for several seconds, the boy continued to stand where he stood, desperately trying to prevent himself from sobbing, before suddenly dashing towards the horned girl...completely unaware of a cloaked force that was watching the scene unfold from the train's window.

" _K-Kill that stupid-id gi-gi-girl,_ " a distorted recording of the girl said, unheard by anyone but this cloaked being.

* * *

As his cloaked vessel departed Earth's atmosphere, the Yautja started to log his findings on the ship's database, specifically that of the horned girl from Japan. Despite her young age, the protrusions on her head made for someone worth observing when the hunter spotted her as he was stalking the city of Kamakura for worthy prey. From the shadows, cloaked from the human eye, he followed her as she boarded a train, eventually coming into confrontation with the boy she had apparently befriended.

Then, from the infra-red vision built into his helmet, he spotted what appeared to be four long, invisible arms emerging from the girl's back, which eventually managed to tear the boy's sister in half with ease. Not long afterward, the boy's father was decapitated with one swipe from the invisible arms. While these two weren't worthy prey by a long shot, the horned girl's abilities were quite the surprise for the alien hunter. In the records of every species the Yautja had hunted across the cosmos, not one was capable of what the girl had done, and would mean that her skull would make quite the trophy, had it not been for one hinderance: her age.

The Yautja may be a race of hunters, and may be seen as malevolent creatures to some, but they still were bound by a code of honor. Said code was strictly enforced, and most Yautja were required to follow it to a tee, or be marked forever as a dishonored 'Bad Blood.' A fate that, to most Yautja, was worse than even death. One rule in their code of honor was that hunting children, no matter what abilities they may possess, was completely off limits.

This particular Yautja, however, was not particularly fond of his kind's honor code, believing that most of its criteria has made his race weak-willed and gave the impression at times that they were cowards, but he elected to follow this specific one and not go after the girl just yet. If he had done so and succeeded in claiming her skull as a prize, no doubt he would have been caught and would end up with the Arbitrators on his trail. Besides, he wanted to be able to get the chance to fight her one-on-one, which he doubted she would be able to do as a child. So, he decided to give it time before going on the hunt, but there in lied another potential problem: if this girl was capable of causing such carnage as a child, who knows just how powerful she will become when she grows up?

It was at that point that the Yautja had an idea. One that would mean breaking another rule in his kind's code of honor.

* * *

Eight years had passed since that day, and the Yautja was nearly ready to commence the hunt he had longed for. In preparation, he had spent that time secluded from the rest of his kind doing something that was very much looked down upon and went against the honor code: genetic modification utilizing the DNA of several alien species. Typically, most Yautja stand at around seven feet, eight inches tall. However, thanks to the upgrades he had given himself, this one now stood at an astonishing eleven feet tall. He had also implemented a retractable exo-skeletal skin comprised of the strongest metals in the known universe, eliminating the need for a typical Yautja body armor, and implanted optical mods directly into his eyes, allowing him to utilize the features of his bio-mask without the need for one.

The hunter knew the risks of doing such a dishonorable act. These modifications were shunned by the rest of his kind, believing that if one cannot earn a trophy utilizing just their skills and equipment, then either they take the chance and risk getting themselves killed, or they don't go after it. In other words, this was considered cheating. If caught, then the Yautja would be branded as a Bad Blood in an instant. However, he believed that the reward of having that girl's horned skull as a trophy would be worth it.

Then, just as he was putting the finishing touches on his gauntlet, an explosion blew a hole in the wall of his make-shift lab, instantly catching him off guard. He turned to see, from the smoke, emerged an Elder Yautja, with four masked Arbitrators behind him. The Elder narrowed his yellow eyes at the upgraded hunter, snarling in contempt. The modified Yautja responded by simply doing the same, knowing that he couldn't possibly hide what he was doing now, before standing his ground, revealing his full height to his fellow hunters.

" **[Seize the Bad Blood!]** " the Elder commanded.

The Arbitrators responded by marching towards their dishonored brethren, only for a shoulder cannon to suddenly spring out of his back. The two in the front had virtually no time to react before the weapon fired, two bursts of plasma energy shooting out of it before making contact with their heads. Upon impact, the Arbitrators' heads practically exploded, shrapnel from their masks flying and blood splattering everywhere, forcing the Elder and two remaining Arbitrators to shield themselves. The modified Yautja then gave off a rage-filled roar before cloaking himself and dashing out of his lab with great speed for one his size.

" **[** **After him!]** " the Elder ordered.

* * *

Once the Yautja made it to his ship, he wasted no time flying away from the asteroid where his lab was located, knowing full well that the others would be following. There was no turning back now. The worst crime that a Yautja could ever commit was to murder one of his own kind. And he did so without so much as hesitating. Now they were going to hunt him down like some animal until they had his head on a pike for what he had done. But, strangely enough, he couldn't care less.

All that mattered to him now was the goal he had set out to accomplish. Afterward, he barely even gave a damn about what his former brethren did to him. So, with one jump to hyperspace, gaining a head start from his pursuers, his ship headed back to Earth. Fortunately for the Yautja, finding the horned girl wouldn't be much of an issue, as he had a Falcon drone he had stolen from a Falconer follow her at every turn, and recently, she had turned up escaping from a military facility in California, likely attempting to head back to Japan. **[1]**

The ship then reached its destination, and the Yautja began to pilot his vessel towards the forests of California where the girl was. After eight long years of waiting, he was either going to have his trophy, or he was going to die in the quest.

* * *

 **[1] - To witness this escape, read part 6 of The New Frontier**


	4. Lucy

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Lucy: Most Dangerous Game part 2

* * *

Just when Lucy assumed the universe might be done making her life an emotional punching bag, something like this happens.

The Diclonius Queen was normally use to the feeling of being alone. Since she had been abandoned by her parents, it was nearly all she ever knew aside from killing. But this time was different. Here she was, by herself in the middle of the woods, continuing to put distance between her and her captors, now with the knowledge that the only person she ever cared for was dead. **[1]**

The second she thought back to that moment, she ceased her walking and nearly collapsed onto the ground once again, this time holding onto a tree for support. Afterward, she sat down next to the tree, the tears starting to flow for what felt like the hundredth time now. It was always a cruel cycle. She gets close to someone and one of two outcomes happens. One, that person ends up betraying her trust, like that one bitch from the orphanage, or two, they end up dead, like Aiko, and now Kouta.

"Is this...Is this what you want from me?" she questioned as she looked up at the skies above, likely asking this to her 'divine creator.' "Am I just some sick joke to you?! Why the hell didn't you just let me die?!"

As she burried her face into her knees, quietly sobbing, Lucy mentally questioned what exactly her purpose was going on like this, hoping that damn voice in her head wouldn't answer that question with the same tired response. 'It's because you are destined to eradicate humanity so that we may take this Earth,' it would say. There was a time when she would carry that task out without even a second guess. But not anymore. She was tired. Tired of the constant running. Tired of the never-ending battle scars. Tired of the emotional turmoil that plagued her life day after day.

The Diclonius thought back once more to that moment in Kamakura that put her in a coma for four months. The same question she asked her creator came to her once more. Why couldn't she have just died then? Why couldn't the pain just end already? These thoughts ran rampant through her mind as she continued to quietly shed her tears.

Then, she started to hear something.

A clicking noise that almost sounded like an animal snarling.

The sound clearly came from above the tree tops, so the Diclonius Queen shifted her head upward to try and find who would foolishly try to stalk her like this. She naturally assumed, at first, that it was likely an operative of the facility she had recently escaped from trying to re-capture her. Brave of them...yet foolish at the same time.

However, moments later, something caught her eye. She quickly caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure jumping from branch to branch, and instantly knew that whoever this was, it was no human. It appeared to be about twice the height of an adult male and seemed to be digitigrade given the apparent shape of its feet.

The clicking continued on as Lucy tried once more to find what was watching her from the trees above. It was at that moment that another sound came about. This time a garbled recording that at first seemed like incoherant nonsense, until the noise started to manifest into something else. Something that shook the mutant to the very core and nearly made her heart stop.

It was her voice.

Or rather, the voice of her younger self...from THAT fateful day.

" _N-Now I'm goin-ing to k-k-kill-you...st-stupid-id girl..._ "

At that moment, Lucy wasn't content with just tearing this stalker to pieces and being done with it. No. Now she was going to make this individual scream for reminding her of that moment in her life.

She continued searching the trees for any sign of the cloaked figure and suddenly saw it leaping to a branch to her right.

"There you are," she muttered under her breath.

In an instant, she shot her vectors towards the figure, tearing the trees around it apart and forcing the cloaked stalker to fall towards the ground in front of her. She heard the sound of its feet landing roughly on the ground and prepared her invisible weapons once more to finish the job. She stopped, however, when the stalker slowly began to de-cloak itself as it approached its target, revealing quite the surprise for the Diclonius Queen.

Her second assumption was correct. This thing indeed was not human. What she wasn't expecting was just how far from human it truly was. The eleven foot tall stalker was revealed to be a charcoal-grey skinned creature with a gauntlet on its right arm and a head unlike anything Lucy had ever seen, with dreadlock-like appendages for hair and arthropod-like mandibles for a mouth. The Diclonius quickly shook off her initial shock rather quickly though. She didn't care what this thing looked like at the moment.

All she cared about was making this ugly motherfucker suffer before she killed it.

Without hesitation, once the creature was within two meters of Lucy, she shot her vectors out once more, aiming to slice the Yautja's arms off first. However, the alien hunter swiftly reacted by having his metallic exo-skeletal skin deploy before doing something that caused Lucy's jaw to practically drop.

He grabbed two of her vectors.

Unbeknownst to the mutant, the Yautja's now built-in infra-red vision was able to detect the normally invisible vectors and grab them before they could reach him. He was sparred his hands being sliced in half as well thanks to his now practically unbreakable metal skin.

Lucy then made an attempt to go for the alien's legs, hoping to find some sort of weak spot or, at the very least, trip him, but it seemed as though the hunter saw this as well and pulled the vectors he had grabbed with such force that the Queen Diclonius was sent flying towards him. She was quick to react, managing to use her two free vectors to launch herself up and above the Yautja just before he managed to headbutt her. But once she landed behind him and prepared to attack him once more, the intergalactic huntsman sprung a blade from his gauntlet and quickly turned to face her once more, swinging the blade towards Lucy's neck while he did so.

Thankfully, the Diclonius was able to block the attempt on her life with her vectors before using them to land a punch on the Yautja's face. The force of the impact caused him to stumble backwards a bit and Lucy saw this as her chance to try and go back on the offensive, failing to notice three red dots aimed at her forehead. She did, however, notice the plasma cannon on the alien hunter's shoulder begining to charge up and instantly shielded herself utilizing her invisible appendages. The cannon fired a powerful plasma bolt that exploded upon making contact with the queen's vectors. Lucy was spared being blown to pieces, but the force of the explosion was enough to send her flying back into a tree.

As she struggled to get back on her feet, she could practically feel something start to claw its way through the depths of her mind. She instantly knew what, or rather, who, this was and clutched her forhead in pain.

"Ugh...damn it, not now," she said.

She didn't have much time to further chastize her much more inneffective personality, Nyu, as she suddenly heard the Yautja roaring directly at her. She turned to face him once more to see him activate a device in his gauntlet that shot out the blade he had previously attempted to use to decapitate the Diclonius. Lucy was able to act at the very last second and use her vectors to grab the blade as it was mere inches away from her torso. She then charged directly towards her opponent and threw the blade at him, only for the Yautja to knock it aside as he started to charge towards his prey.

The alien stopped, however, seemingly out of nowhere once he was two meters away. He was then suddenly hurled into a group of trees by Lucy's vectors. The invisible appendages still held onto their victim as Lucy directed them to swing the Yautja into a second group of trees before launching him upward. The Diclonius Queen responded by launching herself up as well, intent on delivering a strike that would send the alien plumetting to the ground bellow. However, once she reached the air, she let out a gasp of shock upon seeing that the Yautja was gone.

She knew at that moment that the hunter had cloaked himself and, rather than taking a huge risk and just guessing where he was, quickly used her vectors to pull herself into the leaves of one of the forest's trees, right before her target de-cloaked and was able to grab her by the neck. Her strategy was simple: as much as she hated to do so, she needed to try and hide to give herself the time to try and formulate some kind of plan to defeat this monster. Any hope of doing so were quickly dashed though when she just barely spotted three dots dash by her arm in a heartbeat.

" _Th-There you-you a-a-are,_ " a recording of Lucy suddenly said, causing her blood red eyes to widen.

"Shit!" she cursed as she instantly dashed out of the tree she was hiding in the second before a plasma bolt set it ablaze.

The Diclonius landed roughly on the ground, which had also been set on fire thanks to the prior explosion, but luckily, she had missed the flames by about a foot. She was able to get on her knees when she noticed the Yautja standing about a good fifteen feet away, staring right at her. Lucy readied her vectors for another attack, but then the beast started to walk away, apparently not even noticing her at all.

'...What is it doing?' Lucy thought to herself, just barely noticing a spark eminating from the alien's right eye. She then started to attempt to piece this together, naturally assuming that this creature had some sort of enhancements to his eyes that allowed him to see both her and her vectors no matter where she was. So, when she had punched him in the face earlier,  
she must have been able to damage it.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when she felt a sharp pain eminating from her forehead. She had to restrain herself from grunting, as no doubt the alien hunter would hear her.

'No, you idiot!' she thought. 'If you come out now, it'll be the death of both of us!'

'And to think, just a few moments ago you were begging for such bliss, weren't you?' asked not Nyu, but a third voice in the Diclonius Queen's head.

'If I'm going to die, I'd rather not end up having my skull be this freak's trophy,' Lucy shot back.

The truth was that Lucy had a minnimal understanding of just what she was up against. During her time in the GJN facility's bio-lab, she noticed two files nearby the Antarctica Lifeform's tube. One was titled 'Guatemala - 1987,' while the other was titled 'Los Angeles - 1997.' Prior to noticing the Antarctica Lifeform, she briefly looked over the Guatemala file, which were interviews of two individuals, Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer and Anna Gonsalves, that were conducted after their encounter with a similar creature. She wasn't able to get much, but she did notice that statements made by Dutch suggested that these aliens hunted what they considered worthy prey and took their skulls and spinal cords as trophies.

'Either way, you know that I can't allow that to happen,' the voice continued. 'You still have a missi-'

'Not. Another. Word,' Lucy retaliated. 'I don't want to hear about that goddamned 'destiny' of mine. At least not until we deal with this thing first. So, unless you have any ideas, I'd strongly suggest shutting the hell up right now.'

'Fortunately, I believe I may have one. I might have enough power to slay this creature if you allow me to take over.'

The Diclonius Queen had to refrain herself from sighing. She knew that voice was probably going to suggest that. Unfortunately, as she silently mulled it over, she realized that she doesn't have many other options.

" **[Where are you?]** " the Yautja asked in his native tongue as he continued searching through the inferno.

'I promise that this will only be temporary,' the voice stated.

Lucy continued to think this through, trying to find some other way to kill this thing, but alas, it was clear that it was a fruitless endevor as she finally made her decision.

'Fine,' she replied, almost in disgust.

Then, the very next second, an onslaught of pain and aggony rushed through her head as she felt her horns starting to move. She proceeded to clutch both of them before finally screaming out, unable to surpress it any longer. The Yautja easily heard this and turned to the source of the scream.

" _There-ere y-you a-ou are._ "

The alien hunter's plasma cannon charged up once more, fully intent on finishing this fight, before firing at its target, a massive explosion resulting from the impact. Thinking that he was about to claim his prize, the upgraded Yautja let out a victorious roar into the skies above before slowly making his way to the roaring flames.

Only to then be met with a now visible vector to the head.

The impact was different this time, and the hunter knew it, as the fist practically detonated right on his face, sending him flying against a tree. The Yautja shook off the pain and stood to see his prey advancing towards him, but there was something different. Of course, her vectors were now visible to the naked eye, but also, her horns had grown to about triple their normal length and gone was the normally cold, emotionless expression of the Diclonius Queen. Replaced, instead, by a sadistic smirk on her face.

"Come on..." she said as she advanced further towards her opponent. "Kill me."

The Yautja responded be slowly getting back on his feet.

"I'm here. Do it."

He picked up his still detatched wrist blade and reattatched it to his gauntlet.

"Come on! I'm right here! Do it now!"

He roared once more, this time with pure rage and a desire to kill.

"KILL ME!"

Upon hearing those words, the Yautja charged towards his target, swinging his wrist blade towards her neck once he was close enough, only for a vector to swing back at his arm. Not only did it shove it away from her, but, shockingly, the alien heard the sounds of crumpled metal and shattered bones. As the pain started to kick in in his right arm, he turned to see that it was completely broken and the metal of his exo-skeleton was starting to tear. The Yautja yelled out and grabbed his now broken arm as he started to back away from Lucy.

He attempted to utilize his plasma cannon once more, only for another vector to grab it, tear it off of his back and crush it. While she tossed the now useless ball of scrap aside, she finally noticed the light green blood starting to flow out of both the wounds on his arm and on his back.

"Good," she said. "You DO bleed. I CAN kill you."

The Yautja snarled in contempt in responde.

" _G-go-o-going to-to kill-ill...st-st-st-stupid-id girl-rl._ "

He then pulled the wrist blade out of his gauntlet in an attempt to stab her in the gut, only for one of her vectors to pull it out of his hand and toss it aside. Another vector proceeded to grab his already broken arm and pull on it, tearing it right out of his body. The extraterrestrial huntsman roared out in agony before he was suddenly lifted into the air, upside down. Two of Lucy's extra appendeges started to punch him in the face repeatedly, each impact creating a small explosion and denting the Yautja's exo-skeleton further and further. After about fifteen seconds, she ceased, only to then tear off his left leg and slam him roughly into the ground.

Clearly having won this fight and using up a great deal of her energy, the voice inside Lucy's head retreated back into the depths of her mind, her horns retracting back to their normal size as she did so. Now free from the voice's control, the Diclonius made her way to the writhing alien as he continued to bleed profusely. What was once practically a terrifying force of nature that Lucy could not out match was now a sorry, blood-soaked mess that had been beaten and humiliated to near death.

She looked down at the Yautja, glaring directly into his eyes. Rather than beg for his life like so many of Lucy's victims however, the alien hunter glared right back.

"Going...to kill...stupid girl," he snarled, no longer in his native language, as he turned to see, laying next to his left arm, his detatched right arm. More importantly, his gauntlet. He reached over to it with his only arm, planning to activate a self destruct sequence like so many of his kind had done before. If he was not to have his trophy, he would at the very least have the pleasure of taking the mutant with him. Lucy instinctively knew that, whatever this thing was intending to do, it couldn't possibly be good. So, she readied her vectors to make one final swipe at the alien's neck and finally finishing this fight.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a disk-like weapon flew right into the gauntlet, damaging it beyond repair. The upgraded Yautja's eyes widened, knowing exactly what this meant. The Diclonius, in turn, faced where the disk had come from to see, to her surprise, three more of the beast she had fought, abeit, smaller versions of it, decloaking. Unbeknownst to her, it was the Elder and two Arbitrators that had went after their dishonored brother. **[2]**

The three of them turned to get a good look at the one who had defeated this Bad Blood. Lucy, feeling yet another fight was about to occur, brought out her vectors in a defensive manner, fully expecting the three of them to make the first move.

Shockingly though, it never happened.

Rather than charge towards her, the Elder turned his head to the upgraded Bad Blood and pointed directly at him. The Arbitrators responded by dashing towards him and forcing him onto his one knee whilest holding onto him. The Elder Yautja turned once more to face Lucy and slowly unsheathed a sword from his back before tossing it in a non-hostile manner to the Diclonius Queen.

"Finish him," he instructed the second Lucy grabbed the sword.

Perplexed, but knowing what he meant, Lucy walked towards the one who had caused her so much trouble. She gazed down at him once more, noticing him weakly struggle in a despirate attempt to free himself. This wasn't how he invisioned this to end. Dying in a humiliating manner. Destined to be remembered as a criminal. A cheater.

Dishonorable.

Without even hesitating, Lucy swung the sword at the Yautja's neck, instantly decapitating him. The Arbitrators let go of their captive, allowing both his corpse and head to harshly land on the ground. The Diclonius Queen then heard the Elder order the two of them in their native language before they picked up the Bad Blood's body and head. As then made off into the woods, disappearing in the shadows, the Elder and Lucy faced each other once more, the Elder pointing at the sword.

"Keep it," he stated before cloaking himself and disappearing before the mutant's eyes.

As she heard the footsteps of the Elder leaving, Lucy looked down at the sword, noticing enscriptions that were no doubt in the aliens' language. Her thoughts, however, were at said extraterrestrials rather than her newly acquired weapon. It was quite clear that they had now considered her a worthy adversary.

And that they would be back.

But she wasn't fearful of their innevitable return and her now destined rematch with them. She had managed to defeat one of their strongest warriors. If they truly wanted to face her again, let them.

Their fates would likely not be any different.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the Elder Yautja's ship left Earth's atmosphere, he observed data collected from scouts he had sent earlier. He had figured that, while he was traveling here in pursuit of the Bad Blood, he might as well see if any worthy prey had cropped up over the years. And what the scouts had found was most interesting.

A teenage boy that was part-ghost, humanoid dragons, an interdimensional princess and several alien species that ranged from Gems and Kraang to Autobots and Dire Wraiths. One scout even reported that he may have spotted the notorious space pirate Ryoko Hakubi in Japan. It was at that moment that Lucy's assumption was proven to be right.

The Yaujta would indeed be back.

* * *

 **[1] - As seen in part 6 of The New Frontier**

 **[2] - As seen in the previous Spotlight**


	5. Elsa Frankenstein

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Elsa Frankenstein: Dead In The Water

* * *

The sound of Sebastian Bach's 5th symphony echoed throughout the confines of Elsa's laboratory as she continued her work. The work in question was attaching a new right arm to her body, which was difficult to do so since she wasn't quite as skilled with her left arm, or better put, this left arm. She had her previous appendage shot off by a sniper bullet from a terrorist's gun before Phantasma could get to the shooter in time. Since she and her fellow monstrous teammates had been reformed under the Global Justice Network as Task Force M, **[1]** the Frankenstein monster had replaced seven arms, three eyeballs, five legs, two hearts and her womanhood after a grenade fell in between her legs due to Winnie's carelessness. Fortunately for Elsa, her new employers gave her more than enough cadavers to find the right spare parts she needed to repair any damage she took on the field.

Elsa was no stranger to playing mix and match with her body, for she had taken her fair share of brutal hits during her days as a student in Ms. Grimwood's school. From being stabbed by monster hunters to being ripped in half by eldritch nightmares from beyond the void, the young Frankenstein had her fair share of battle scars. In those days however, Elsa was a much different person back then. Not as refined as she was now. She was once a dull-witted bruiser who merely destroyed everything in her path, but that changed when she switched her defective brain for one that was much more suitable for her. With this new brain, she had intellect and grace that matched her barbaric strength. If only her grandfather, Victor, could see her now. A true bearer of the Frankenstein name.

Just then, Elsa heard the door to her lab open to reveal Winnie stepping inside.

"Hey," she greeted simply. "Just wanted to check on you."

"While I appreciate your concern, Winnifred, it's of no cause for alarm on my behalf," Elsa assured. "I was just about finished with the adjustments to this new appendage. I must say, it was rather vexing to get the measurements right for this arm since it was two inches longer than my left arm, but I believe I've rectified the error."

Winnie stayed silent for a few moments as her face became one of confusion, leading Elsa to become concerned about her.

"My friend, why the foreboding countenance?" she inquired.

"I'm still not used to it," the werewolf said. "The new you, I mean. I'm still not used to you being an egg-head."

"I must admit that it does come as a bit of a shock. Even I was taken aback by the rush of knowledge that struck my newly acquired mind when I first awoke after I had it placed in this patch-work body of mine"

"I'll bet," Winnie mentioned. "But if I'm being honest, I liked it better when you were dumb."

Elsa stopped what she was doing and narrowed her eyes at the werewolf after hearing that remark.

"You mean, you preferred it when you had someone to mock," the patch-work girl corrected in a stern voice. "I may have a new brain, but all my past memoirs are all still a part of me. I can recall all the cruel pranks you pulled on me, all the foul words you called me, and every time you thought it would be fun to degrade me for my lack of intellect with a simple riddle or puzzle."

Elsa then stood up from her seat with her new arm attached as she slowly approached the werewolf, who backed up slowly as the seven and a half foot tall woman approached her.

"You may have liked me as an idiot before, but I never did," she continued in cold voice. "You may be my friend, Winnie, and you may have thought it was all in good fun to insult me like you did, but I'm a much different person than the fool you teased back in school. Both mentally..."

Else then grabbed Winnie by the shirt and hoisted her into the air to look her dead in the eye.

"And physically," she furthered. "I trust I've made my point?"

"You got five seconds to put me down, stretch," Winnie warned her. "Or you're gonna need a whole new set of body parts."

"I'll take that as a yes," Elsa said before dropping her friend to the floor. "Do not make me have this discussion again."

The she-wolf glared back up at the giant as she let out a growl, all the while Elsa glowered back down at her. Just then, the door opened once more reveal Sibella entering the room.

"Ah, you're both here," she began. "We have another assignment. Suit up. Mission briefing is in ten minutes."

"Good, I need something to maul," Winnie grunted.

* * *

Elsa and Winnie entered the briefing room after they had put on their GJN uniforms. They found the rest of the team there waiting for them, who had also suited up as well. While Sibella and Tanis sat down in their chairs, Phantasma floated in a laying motion in mid-air with her hands behind her head as if she was laying on an invisible hammock. At the front of the room with a screen behind him was the team's leader, Will Du. As Elsa and Winnie entered the room, Will spoke up.

"Welcome back, ladies," he greeted in his usual firm voice. "We've been given another mission by Dr. Director to carry out. So, as always, you all know the rules."

"Run the mission. Kill everyone you see. Don't get caught," Winnie listed off.

"Those aren't the rules, Winnie," Will reminded her.

"They are for me, boy scout," the werewolf replied with a smirk.

Will narrowed his eyes at the she-wolf. It was no secret that Task Force M and its human leader didn't exactly see eye to eye most of the time. The former Grimwood girls fought humans who hunted and butchered monsters out of fear and the thrill of the hunt, so to be working for one wasn't exactly their cup of tea, but they managed to work together out of respect for Agent Du and Dr. Director, who saw that they were more than capable as an elite fighting force. Will didn't have much love for his new team either, but, like it or not, they were his team and he would work with them until he was given new orders or until he died. Task Force M was known by only a handful of members within the GJN, so it was unlikely that they'd be split up any time soon, meaning they were basically stuck together.

"What exactly is the mission, sir?" Sibella asked.

Their leader stepped aside as the screen behind him formed an image for the team to see. It was what looked like satellite images of a cruise ship that was out in the middle of the ocean.

"Three days ago, one of GJN's operatives, Special Agent Miles Kovac, boarded the cruise ship, The Annabelle Lee. It's a pleasure cruise for the extremely wealthy that was meant to sail from Miami to Madrid"

"But why would a GJN agent be among the upper crust of society?" Elsa questioned.

"Maybe Global Justice are investigating how old folks still bang?" Phantasma commented with a laugh.

"Agent Kovac was sent there to gather intel on what was transpiring onboard the Annabelle Lee," their leader answered. "We had heard rumors that there was going to be exhibition of some sort during the cruise."

"What kind of exhibition?" Tanis asked.

"Details remain unclear, hence why we sent an agent in to investigate," Will explained. "What we do know was that it was said to be a machine that's believed to overcome death."

Elsa's eyes widen in shock upon hearing that. Those words had been spoken by every person who bore the name Frankenstein. Even her parents, Adam and Eve, the very products of her grandfather's work, had also uttered those very words when they brought her into the world with a bolt of lightning. The power to control the forces of life and death were not to be taken lightly. It would spell doom and destruction for those foolish enough to wield the power of God like a toy. Even her grandfather was destroyed by the very powers he sought to control in the end.

"Approximately five hours ago, the captain of the Annabelle Lee sent out a distress call that caught our attention," Agent Du continued.

He then played the audio of captain's distress call to his team.

" _Mayday! Mayday! This is the Annabelle Lee, we need immediate assistance! The guests are becoming infected by some sort of unknown contagion that's making them violent! We have multiple casualties! Please send help!_

"We intercepted it and barred it off from reaching the mainland," Will said to the others. "Dr. Director wanted to contemplate what our next move should be until it was decided that we go in and investigate the situation for ourselves."

"What about this Agent Kovac person you mentioned earlier?" Sibella asked.

"HQ has tried to get reach him, but so far he hasn't responded," her leader answered. "We assume that he's dead, but if there's a chance that he's still alive then we are to bring him back with us."

"So, we go in, find out what's making these people nuts, destroy the machine and try to find a guy who might be dead," Winnie listed off. "Is that about right?"

"You'd be correct," Will said. "We have exactly four hours to figure out what happened on that ship, find Agent Kovac and leave before Dr. Director authorizes the ship's termination. The ship is still en-route to Spain, which means means it must be destroyed before this contagion has a chance to spread."

"Oh, goody, we get to add 'possibly blown up by our boss' as an extra health hazard today," the she-wolf grunted sarcastically. "I freaking hate this job."

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about being nuked," Phantasma mentioned. "I'm the most dead out of all of you."

"Gear up. I want wheels off the ground in twenty minutes," Will said to the team.

"Yes Sir!" the girls compiled in unison.

As the team of monsters departed from the briefing room, Elsa remained silent. Her mind ran wild with so many questions that she yet had the answers for. Could it really be the same type of machine that brought her to life? And if so, how could anyone replicate it? These questions and more troubled her thoughts, but what she did know was that, whatever the answers may be, it would only bring her pain.

* * *

After boarding their personally customized stealth jet, the Raven, Task Force M took off from their hidden base and flew toward the location of the cruise ship. The girls had no need for guns. For their claws, fangs and supernatural abilities were far more lethal than any firearm, making Will the only one who carried a sidearm among the team. As the team's leader flew the jet toward their destination, Elsa still remained silent, still contemplating as to what she would find aboard this apparently doomed ship. She had so many questions yet not a single answer for any of them. It was almost insulting to her. She had all this knowledge at her disposal now, and yet it all seemed useless to her.

"Are you okay, Elsa?" Tanis spoke up. "You seem like something's bothering you."

"What? Oh, it's nothing," the patch-work girl brushed off. "Merely lost my own thoughts, that's all."

"Would those thoughts happen to be about what we're flying into?" Winnie posed.

Elsa grimaced at the werewolf, who smirked back at her, knowing that she had hit the nail on the head with her assumption.

"As a matter of fact, it is," the Frankenstein confirmed with a sigh. "I have something of a hypothesis, well, more of a fear really, that the machine Du spoke of might be similar to the one that gave me and my parents life."

"But I thought that your parents destroyed any record of your grandfather's work after they gave you life," Sibella said.

"That is what troubles me," Elsa replied. "The Frankenstein family's greatest achievement is also the bane of our existence. We knew that should this power ever fall into the wrong hands, the world would be undone."

The true tale of Frankenstein had a far different ending than the one that was widely known from the novel chronicled by a woman who was once a friend to Victor, who wrote the book in an attempt to horrify her friends during one stormy night. According to the book, Victor's creation plagued him for abandoning him shortly after breathing life into him, killing his loved ones and leaving him to blame until Victor set out to kill the monster in a journey that ended his life in the arctic north. In reality however, the true tale of Victor and his creation was much different from the story.

While it was true that Elsa's father did in fact murder Victor's best friend and brother out of rage for being discarded by his creator, the undead creature felt only remorse for what he had done and went to his father, begging for his forgiveness, to which Victor gave him, knowing that the blame was truly upon him and not his monstrous child. The creature, whom Victor had named Adam, sought to cure his child's loneliness and created him a wife whom he loved dearly. Victor then married his beloved Elizabeth and lived a long and happy life until he died of old age. Sadly, the good doctor and his wife never had children of their own, save for the one the scientist had created himself.

Shortly after his father's passing, Adam and his wife, whom was named Eve, came to the home of the now widowed Elizabeth, giving their condolences while also asking for her aid in a certain matter. The two man-made creatures were truly a triumph of science over nature, but they could not create children in the same natural way as humans did. They wished to have a child of their own and asked their 'mother' if Victor kept any of his notes from when he first gave life to Adam. Fortunately, Elizabeth did in fact keep Victor's notebook and some of his old blue prints of how he created the machine and offered to give them to the undead couple so long as they swore to destroy everything after they had created their child, fearing that, if this power was ever discovered by the outside world, mankind would no doubt bring about only chaos and doom by wielding this power over life and death like a child's pop-gun. And so, shortly after successfully giving Elsa life, Adam and Eve destroyed every shred of the work of the late Victor Frankenstein, keeping it forever out of reach of those who would misuse its power for all time.

"We're approaching the target," Du said to his team. "Get ready."

The monstrous women collectively got up from their seats and stepped toward the bay door. Will lowered the Raven downward toward the ship before opening the door, revealing the cruise ship to the rest of Task Force M. Even though they were still some height away from the ship, the team could see a menagerie of blood and gore strewn about all across the decks. Bodies of men, women and children were all torn limb from limb and left to rot. Music still played over the intercoms and lights still shined down on the carnage that was there for the monsters to see. Even from where Winnie was, she could smell only death and decay on the cruise ship. They weren't shocked by this sight, for this was normal by their standards.

After putting the jet on auto-pilot and switching on its cloak, Will and his team of monsters leapt down from the aircraft and onto the ship.

"It smells like death," Winnie noted as she sniffed the air. "A lot of it."

"Sibella, take Winnie and Tanis and search the upper decks," Will instructed his teammates as he drew his sidearm. "Elsa, Phantasma, you two are with me. We're going to search the lower decks. Remember, we don't know what we're walking into and we're on the clock, so stay in constant radio contact."

"And let's not try to draw attention to ourselves this time, Winnie," Sibella remarked. "We don't want a repeat of that mishap in San Lorenzo."

"What? Those river pirates were asking for it," the werewolf defended. "I'm still picking them out of my teeth."

"Besides, it's gonna be kinda hard to keep a low profile in this mess," Phantasma mentioned.

"Phantasma's right," Will agreed "We don't have the time nor the luxury to be subtle. Radio in if you find the machine and/or Agent Kovac, dead or alive."

With that, Sibella took on her bat form and flew downward toward the decks lower levels with Winnie and Tannis following closely behind. Will then lead the ghost and the Frankenstein toward an entrance that lead into the lower decks of the cruise ship. Like before, these decks were filled with the mangled bodies of the crew and passengers alike, all torn to shreds by whatever now stalked this ship. Elsa approached one of the ripped up corpses and began to examine the remains. Will walked up to her, all the while keeping her covered as he scanned the room.

"What are we looking at here, Elsa?" he asked, keeping his eyes on his surroundings as he did.

"Judging by these bite marks and the scratches on this man's skin, I'd say that he was killed by another human being," Elsa concluded. "It would stand to reason that the others were killed this way as well."

"But why would people just start killing each other?" her leader questioned.

"The captain's distress call did mention something about some sort of plague that was driving the guests mad," Elsa noted. "Perhaps this is the aftermath of whatever tragedy befell these people."

"You think it might be airborne?" Will asked.

"It's hard to say at this point," the patch-work woman said. "Though the only one here that should be concerned about that is you, Agent Du. Phantasma and I are impervious to diseases since we are among the undead."

Will nodded at that before reaching into one of his pouches and pulling out a small face mask to cover his mouth and nose. Hopefully, this mask would filter out whatever sickness was onboard the ship, although that was going by the assumption that he wasn't already infected.

"Phantasma, scout ahead," he said to the ghost. "Report back to us if you find anything."

"Yes sir, mon capitaine!" Phantasma compiled with a mock salute before flying down into a nearby corridor.

While the phantom took point, Elsa and Will stayed behind to further examine the body.

"You think this is connected to the machine Kovac told us about?" the human agent posed.

"I think it's safe to say that it's a strong possibility," the Frankenstein confirmed. "But something troubles me about this corpse."

"What do you mean?' Will inquired.

"Look at the body," Elsa began as she gestured to the corpse. "This man probably died only a few hours ago, and yet the rate of decomposition would make it look as though it were several weeks old. And that's not the most perplexing part."

The patch-work woman then gestured over to another nearby body of a woman.

"That woman over there appears as though she died only a few hours ago, and yet her cadaver looks exactly like how one would look like after dying a few hours ago," she continued.

"So, why do we have bodies who look like they died recently and those who died weeks ago?" her leader mused.

"I fear that we will not like the answer," Elsa noted with trepidation in her voice.

Just then, Phantasma's voice was heard over the team's COMM-Link.

"Guys, I found someone!" she informed the others.

"Is it Agent Kovac?" Will questioned.

"No, its a kid, but she looks hurt," the ghost said. "You guys should get over here. I'm over by cabin corridor 7-G."

Will and Elsa left their spot and headed toward Phantasma's location. While Will would've preferred not to interact with civilians due to the fact that his team was primarily black-ops, he needed answers as to what occurred aboard this ship. It wasn't before long that the two agents reached the phantom, who was currently hovering over a young girl. The child appeared to be no more than six or seven with what looked like a deep bite wound on her leg. Her breathing was heavy and labored, a clear indication that she was in dire need of medical attention.

Elsa's heart grieved for the girl, knowing that she might not make it, but she was more than willing to do whatever she could to keep her alive. So, without waiting for Will's orders, she reached int to one of her belt's pouches and pulled out a small first-aid kit, something that was meant more for the only human on the team and not for her.

As she lowered herself to apply a bandage to the girl's wound, the child used what little strength she had to pull away and pull herself up against the wall she was leaning up against with fear in her eyes once she realized that two monsters were looking down at her. Elsa couldn't help but feel slightly hurt by that. It was a look that she and her teammates knew all too well. Even in their younger years as members of Grimwood's school, the girls had been faced with the same fear toward them for the sole reason of not being human. It was something even Elsa's father encountered after his birth that drove him to murder. But, regardless of the child's terror, the Frankenstein was determined to aid the girl however she could.

"It's okay," she assured the child in a gentle voice. "We're not going to hurt you."

She then held out her hand as a gesture of peace.

"Please, little one, let us help you," she asked softly.

The girl looked at the monster hesitantly for several moments before slowly holding out her leg for Elsa to apply some medicine and a bandage to. As she did, Will approached the girl.

"Can you tell us what happened here?" he began.

"The monsters came here and killed everybody," the girl replied in a weak voice. "The man in white switched on a machine in the main hall and made the monsters walk."

"What man in white?" Agent Du questioned.

"I-I don't know," the girl admitted. "My mommy said he could bring daddy back to life..."

The girl then began to weep.

"But when he did, daddy bit mommy's hand off!" she cried. "Then people started screaming and running when more monsters came, and I got away, but one monster bit me!"

The girl then began to cough again, only this time a mouthful of blood erupted from her mouth. Elsa attempted to aid the child, but the girl only continued to cough up more mouthfuls of blood onto the patch-work woman. Suddenly, the girl fell over on her side and would have fell onto the floor had it not been for Elsa catching her before she hit the ground. The girl wheezed and gagged for breath as if she was being strangled by an unseen force. Then, just as sudden as the child thrashed about in Elsa's arm, she stopped as she let out her last breath.

"She's...she's gone," the Frankenstein said in disbelief.

A great sadness overtook Elsa. True, she did not know the girl, but she felt great sympathy none the less. Just then, the trio's COMM's switched back on with the voice of Winnie on the other end.

"Guys! We need backup!" the werewolf shouted over the radio.

"What's the situation, Winnie?" Will questioned.

"The situation is that we've got a horde of fucking zombies up here and were overrun!" Winnie exclaimed. "Get your asses up here now!"

In that moment, it all made sense to the Frankenstein. The difference of the decaying bodies, the strange bite marks, why didn't she realize it earlier? The Grimwood girls had faced zombies in the past, but those were more of the traditional voodoo variety that their arch-enemy, Revolta, the Witch of the Web, had summoned to to do battle with the girls in the past. As Elsa had this revelation, the dead child in her arms suddenly sprang back to life with a wild look in her eyes as she leapt forward and bit into the monster's shoulder, startling Will and Phantasma in the process. Elsa hissed in pain and yanked the undead creature off of her person, taking a chuck of her flesh along with it, before tossing the zombie girl away from her and several feet down the hall. The girl instantly sprang back to her feet and began to shamble toward them once more, only to be stopped by a well-placed bullet from Will's gun to her head.

"How did you know that would work?" Phantasma asked.

"I've seen enough movies to figure it out," her leader replied.

He then aimed his gun at Elsa, who had since gotten back to her feet, clutching fresh her bite wound as she did.

"I also know that once you're bitten, you're infected," he continued.

"Really, William? I figured that you were smarter than that," Elsa said. "As I stated earlier, I am already undead, and you cannot infect that which is undead."

"Are you certain?" Will persisted, keeping his gun aimed at her head.

"Quite so," Elsa affirmed. "Now do please lower your sidearm. I imagine you'll need the bullets later."

Still feeling uncertain about Elsa's statement, Will lowered his gun, doing his best to trust his teammate. He then looked back at Phantasma.

"Phantasma, get to the upper levels and assist Sibella and the others," he ordered. "Elsa and I will find the machine."

Suddenly, the trio heard a low moan coming from down the hall. They looked at saw several more undead passengers and crew members slowly approaching them. No doubt they had been attracted by the commotion caused by the zombie girl's attack. Knowing her objective, Phantasma phased through the ceiling above her and headed toward the location of Sibella's team, leave Will and Elsa alone to face the horde of rotting flesh alone. However, rather than try to fight their way through them, the duo turned in the opposite direction and ran down the other way in their search for the main hall.

As they ran, another zombie suddenly sprang out of one of the cabins and tackled Will before pinning him against the wall as it went to try and bite into his neck. The GJN agent instantly kicked the cadaver off his person and fired two rounds into its head, killing it instantly. Another pair of zombies sprang out from the cabin ahead of them and went straight for Elsa. The Frankenstein raised an arm to protect herself, only to have one of the creatures to latch onto her arm and bite into it. As Elsa struggled to try and rip her assailant away from her, the second zombie sank its teeth into her side as it tried to pull her down to the ground. Using her free arm, Elsa swatted the walking corpse off of her person before punching her fist right through its face. With one zombie down, Elsa took her arm that was still being chewed on by her other attacker and smashed it into the wall, crushing the zombie's skull from the force of the blow in the process.

After dealing with the zombies that had attacked them, the two agents looked behind them to see that the horde that was chasing them was slowly getting closer. Hoping to even out the herd, Will fired several rounds into the horde, dropping at least three of them in doing so. Elsa was still focused on the hallway ahead of them, which was now having its fair share of zombies shambling toward them. It wasn't as many as the ones behind them, but they still blocked their path none the less. Without giving it another thought, Elsa tore a door off the hinges of one of the cabins and charged forward, using the door as a shield as she did. She crashed into the small pack of corpses and kept running forward until she collided with a wall, squishing the zombies like flies upon impact. Will was following close behind his hulking teammate, keeping his eyes on the horde behind them as he did. Elsa then grabbed another pair of doors and threw them down the hall behind them, knocking over several members of the horde in order to slow them down.

"Elsa, we only have an hour and a half at this point until Dr. Director destroys the ship," he said. "Agent Kovac can't be alive in all this, and there's no way we can reach the machine at this rate. I'm ordering a retreat."

"You cannot be serious, William!" Elsa replied in disbelief. "I have to know if this was truly my grandfather's work that did this!"

"There's no time!" her leader stated firmly. "We're leaving! That's an order, Elsa!"

"Not until I know for sure!" the patch work woman snapped back. "I cannot let this evil taint my family's name more than it already has!"

As Will looked into the giant's different colored eyes, he could see her pain and remorse. As a GJN agent, he never allowed personal feelings to hinder his mission in any sort of way, nor would he allow his teammates to falter in the same way. But this felt different to Will. He could almost feel Elsa's sadness about the thought that something her family used to bring life was used for so much death. It was in that moment that he made a choice.

"We'll go," he finally relented. "But if it gets to close to the deadline, we're pulling out. Understand?"

"Thank you, sir," the Frankenstein said.

"Don't make be regret this," her leader informed her before reloading his sidearm. "Let's go."

With that, the two of them took off down the hall, all the while they hoped that the others were fairing better than they were.

* * *

Winnie let out a mixture of a snarl and laugh as she jumped headfirst into a another group of zombies, slashing madly at the walking corpses in a wild frenzy as she did. When she, Sibella and Tanis entered one of the bars on the cruise ships, they at first found a massacre like the one on the top deck, but this time they discovered who they thought was a woman hunched over a dead body, which quickly turned out to be a zombie consuming the flesh of its victim. The zombie attempted to take a bite out of Winnie who instantly dispatched it, but the sound of combat had attracted several other zombies, leading to the trio of monsters to defend themselves, which only lead to more undead flesh eaters to join the attack.

In all honesty, the werewolf was happy for the zombie ambush. It gave her an excuse to kill something, even if said something was already dead. She never felt more alive than she did in the heat of combat. As she slashed apart the horde, she couldn't help but let out a laugh as she cut down the undead around her. Unlike the flesh of a living human, zombie flesh was much more loose and had a a tendency to splatter more due to the rot and decay the creatures had gone through. As the werewolf continued to cut the undead monsters down with her bloodstained claws, she failed to notice that one of the zombies had snuck up behind her and bit deep into her shoulder, making her cry out more in anger than pain. Acting on her anger, she twisted her head around and sank her fangs into the zombies face, tearing the head from both her person and from its shoulder with one swift motion. Even though she was the only monster who was among the living, her Lycantrophy kept her safe from any disease, including those of the zombie variety.

"Think you can bite me, huh?!" she shouted at the surrounding horde. "I'll bite you back, maggot brains!"

As Winnie leapt headfirst into the undead masses, Sibella was dealing with her fair share of zombies as well. Unlike her werewolf teammate who mindlessly tore her way through the horde, she used her superhuman speed to run through the zombies, cutting them down with her claws as she did. Sibella wanted to end this skirmish as quickly as possibly and leave before their deadline was up. She too had been bitten, several times in fact, but, thanks to her undead nature, she also remained unaffected. The vampire was thankful that she managed to have a quick drink of blood to keep her going, or else she would have exhausted herself by now. However, she knew that while she and her fellow monsters outmatched the undead horde, they were outnumbered, and with the amount of zombies that were pouring into the bar from being attracted to the sounds of battle, sooner or later they would be overrun.

Just then, Sibella noticed a green flash of light over her shoulder and saw that Phantasma had entered the fray.

"I thought you were with Du and Elsa," the vampire pointed out.

"Du sent me to back you up," the ghost said as she blasted another zombie with her ecto-blasts. "They're headed to destroy the zombie-bake oven that made these things."

"Well, they better hurry up!" Winnie called out as she continued her fight against the waves of walking dead. "This shit is getting ridiculous!"

It was then that Sibella turned her attention to Tanis, who was currently fending off her fair share of corpses with her whip-like bandages.

"Tanis!" she called out. "You know what to do!"

The mummy princess nodded in understanding. Within seconds, her bandage wrapped body began to come apart and reform as a massive sandstorm. Tanis's face, the face she once had when she was human, appeared in the cloud of sand. With an ungodly shriek, the cloud of sand spread like flood across the bar, shredding the undead horde into pieces. Within seconds, the zombie mob was reduced to a mass of gore. The sandstorm reformed back into Tanis, who collapsed to the ground, exhausted form using so much of her strength.

"You did good, Tanis," Sibella complemented.

"Uh, guys..." Phanty noted, pointing to the doorway. "Here comes round two!"

The monster girls looked toward the door and saw another mass of walking dead shambling toward them. Tanis was too weak to aid in this fight, so it would be up to the other three to hold these creatures off until Will and Elsa completed their mission.

"I'll take the one on the left," the ghost joked, making her friends groan in unison.

With that, the trio leapt into the fray once more.

* * *

Thanks to the commotion that the rest of their team was causing, Elsa and Will had managed to reach the main hall with minimal resistance along the way. Will and his monstrous teammate took down whatever zombie they came across quickly and quietly in order to remain unseen by the rest of the walking dead. As they approached the main hall, Elsa's fears reached fever pitch as she and her leader stood outside of the main hall's massive front doors. A part of her wanted to turn and run in order to save herself the pain of seeing her family's life work being used so shamefully, but she she steadied her heart and threw open the door and stepped inside with Will following closely behind her. The room was dark, but the duo could make out the shape of a large object sitting on the center stage of the room.

"I'm so glad you could make it," came a voice from the darkness. "I was hoping you could see this, Elsa Frankenstein."

Suddenly, the lights switched on, revealing the object that was sitting upon the stage. Just as the patch-work woman feared, it was, in fact, the machine that had been built in the image of the one that gave her family life. However, Elsa noticed that there were some major changes to it that had taken her aback. While the machine had all the proper parts to it, such as massive conducts, Tesla coils and other machines that harnessed electricity, it also had a strange chemical tank connected to it as well.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the voice said. "Admittedly, it's not 100% accurate to the one your grandfather built, but, then again, who could ever compare to the great Victor Frankenstein?"

"Show yourself!" Will demanded.

As if on cue, a figure jumped down from the ceiling and onto the stage besides the machine. He was pale skinned and had a well-trimmed beard on his face. He was thin, yet Elsa and Will had a sense that he was stronger than he looked. The biggest shock to the two agents was the man's attire, which was one of a GJN Agent.

"Agent Kovac?" Will said, clearly taken aback. "What happened to you?"

"A change, Agent Du," Kovac answered with a smile. "One for the better."

Thanks to her enhanced vision, Elsa saw that the Agent's teeth now spotted a pair of vampire fangs. In that moment, it all clicked for the Frankenstein. The mindless dead, the machine and, above all else, the man in white. Kovac's vampirc change only further confirmed her suspicion. As Elsa put the pieces together in her head, Kovac's smile grew only wider.

"Ah, so you figured it out," he noted. "You really have become the smart one, haven't you?"

"Even in my previous mentally lesser state I could've figured it out!" Elsa proclaimed.

"What are you talking about, Elsa?" Will questioned. "What the hell is wrong with Kovac?"

"He's a traitor, Du," Elsa replied in a stern voice. "Not just to GJN, but to all of mankind!"

"What do you mean?!" Will asked.

"He has become a vampire," the patch-work woman stated. "Not like Sibella, mind you, but one made from the science of a madman!"

"Mad, my dear?" Kovac inquired mockingly. "No! This is brilliance at its best!"

"Where is he, Kovac?!" Elsa demanded. "Where is the Major?!"

Hearing that name took will aback. He had only read old World War II files from back when the Global Justice Network was still in its infancy, but from what he read about the madman known only as the Major, he dreaded him. From the information he had read about him within those files, the Major was the commanding officer of a special Nazi battalion that worked deeply in the occult known only as Millennium. While reports were neither confirmed nor denied, it was believed that the soldiers within the battalion were vampires that were bread for avenging the German army should it lose the war. After being defeated once by Sibella's father and the Hellsing Organization, they vanished into the shadows of the world, spoken in whispers like a nightmare. If Millennium was behind this carnage, then the world was truly at risk.

As for Elsa, she knew the Major and his army all too well. In her days at Miss Grimwood's Academy, she and her classmates have several clashes with the organization over the years. The main goal the Major had in mind for the girls was that he wanted to capture them so that he could harvest their cells to create a new breed of soldiers for his army. An obsession that he still had aspirations for.

"He left just as the festivities were just beginning, I'm afraid," Kovac answered. "He sends his regards."

"How did you build that machine?" Elsa questioned tensely. "My parents destroyed any record of it after I was born."

"I'm not quite sure about the details, I was kept in the dark about that part," Kovac admitted. "But, from what I understand, your grandfather wasn't quite as thorough with covering his tracks as he thought he was. Millennium built this machine from what little notes they could find of Victor's masterpiece. As you might guess, the results have been...less than satisfactory."

"We noticed," Will growled. "So, why this boat?"

"These people were financial backers for various Nazi-sympathizer groups from across the globe, including Millennium," the traitor answered. "When the Major told these people that their money was going toward a weapon that could not only genetically purify the world, but also give them eternal life, they took the bait like fish to a hook."

"But you wanted test subjects, not investors," Elsa gathered.

"Correct," Kovac mentioned. "The Major had enough money as it was from the funds he took with him when he escaped Germany, but he wanted to see if this machine was going to work. So, who better to test it out on then a bunch of idiots with deep pockets?"

"You're sick, Kovac!" Will shouted as he raised his sidearm up. "Why would you throw everything away and join these monsters?!"

"Well, immortality does have its benefits," the traitor replied. "Besides, I've always been a fan of German culture."

"Speaking of which," Elsa mentioned. "What is that vat of chemicals for? Those weren't apart of the machine's original designs"

"Ah, yes, I was hoping you'd notice that," the vampire answered. "Have you ever heard of Project: Overlord?"

The two GJN agents were confused by that statement.

"It was private operation that was being carried out during the final years of the war," the vampire continued. "It was meant to give the F hrer a thousand year soldiers for his thousand year Reich by harvesting a substance that the Germans' had discovered in a small village in France and injecting it into the strongest men in the Nazi army. However, on the eve of the Allies' invasion of Normandy, a small band of US Troops destroyed the lab and seemingly buried the substance deep within the earth from where it came from. Fortunately, the Major and his troops managed to dig up the site and take what they could before the Allied forces could fully gain a foothold in that area. It was the Major's hopes that crossing the liquid with your grandfather's work would produce the perfect warriors for his army. Sadly, that simply wasn't the case."

Kovac then leaned forward, bearing his fangs as he showed his claws to the duo.

"Now then, if we're finished with the exposition..." he said. "Let's have some real fun!"

In the blink of an eye, the vampire had lunged at the duo and raced toward them at break-neck speeds. With a swipe of his claws, he slashed off Elsa's left arm before kicking her across the room. With the patch-work girl down, Kovac turned his attention to Will, who had already pointed his gun at him and fired. His bullets only hit empty air where Kovac once stood. Suddenly, the traitor reappeared behind the agent and, before he could he could react, Kovack slash his claws across Will's chest, cutting deep into his flesh in the process. The GJN agent collapsed to the ground as blood gushed from his open wound. He tried to raise his gun in on last last of defiance, but Kovac slapped his firearm out of his hand.

"Sorry it had to end this way, Du," Kovac said in mock apology. "But, if I'm being honest, I always hated your guts."

However, before he could lay another claw on his victim, Elsa's fist from her remaining arm punched through the back of the vampire's head and came out through his forehead. The Frankenstein then grabbed the corpse's upper jaw and flung it aside, tearing its head off in the proccess, before quickly kneeling down to tend to her fallen leader.

"E-Elsa..." Will began weakly. "G-get back to the o-others, and get to the Raven."

"I'm not leaving you," the patch-work woman denied.

"T-there's no time!" Will breathed out. "You've only got about twenty minutes until we reach our deadline."

He then reached up and held onto Elsa's arm and pulled her close so he could face her.

"Go!" he ordered with what strength he had left in his voice. "Save yourselves!"

With that last order, he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. Elsa was left stunned by her leader's actions. True, they didn't agree on much, but she held respect for Du, and she'd be damned to let him die here at the madness of the Major. It was then that she noticed a table on the stage. Upon the stage was a small syringe that held a strange black liquid, no doubt the substance that was a part of Project: Overlord. An idea sparked in the Frankenstein's mind, and admittedly, it wasn't her best one. She rushed over to the table and took the syringe from it, still unsure if what she was about to do would save or damn Will, but she wasn't a Frankenstein if she didn't take any risks. So, without giving it another thought, she took the needle and jabbed it into Will's chest before injecting the liquid into his body.

* * *

Will's eyes snapped open as he shot up, letting out a deep gasp of shock as he did. His line of vision darted around his surroundings in an erratic fashion as he tried to regain his barrings. He was laying on a stretcher within the confines of the Raven, which was in flight. As he struggled to comprehend how he had gotten here, his team, save Sibella, who was flying the Raven, gathered around him.

"How...what?" He said in disbelief. "I was-"

"Dead," Elsa confirmed. "Yes, yes you were. Quite dead, in fact."

"But how-" Will attempted to ask.

"I injected you with the serum that Kovac had mentioned," the patch-work woman answered. "I wasn't about to let you die, William."

"Yeah, you maybe an asshole, but you're our asshole," Winnie added.

Will then looked at his hands. He saw that his veins were now enlarged and black. He was horrified by the sight and by what Elsa had done to him. He then looked at his chest where Kovac had slashed him open, which had instantly healed, and instead of a deep gash, only scars had taken its place.

"What the hell did you to me?!" he shouted furiously.

"I saved your life," Elsa reminded him.

"But now I'm-" he attempted to say.

"Like us," the Frankenstein affirmed.

"Welcome to the cub, boss!" Phantasma cheered. "We'll get you t-shirt and throw you a bar mitzvah!"

Before Will could say anything else, a loud expolsion was heard from outside the craft. Will turned his head around and looked out the window to see the Annabelle Lee begin to sink into the sea in a mass of fire and twisted metal as a GJN jet flew away from the scene. Elsa also watched the cruise ship vanish into the depths below intently, watching the perversion of her family's work disappear into the seas below as she did.

"It's over then?" Winnie commented.

"The mission is over, yes," Will mentioned before turning to look at Elsa. "But we're far from over for what you did."

"I understand and take full responsibility for this, Will," Elsa said. "But perhaps we should wait to have this conversation when we return to base where Dr. Director can have some input on this matter as well?"

"I assure you, she will," Will stated. "In the meantime, I suggest you stay away from me."

Rather than argue with her commanding officer, Elsa turned and walked away to the other side of the Raven, watching from another window as the ship continued to sink into the sea. She knew she wouldn't be punished too greatly for her actions, for she knew that Dr. Director would be happy to have her top agent still alive and, more importantly, she could now see first-hand what the serum could do on the battlefield. Will would be angry with the Frankenstein for a time, but he would come around to being reborn eventually.

"Ain't that some shit?" Winnie commented as she walked over to Elsa's side. "You save his life and he hates you for it."

"I can understand where he's coming from," Elsa replied. "It's hard to accept being one of our kind so suddenly"

"There's just one thing I don't get though," the werewolf mentioned. "How did you know that stuff wouldn't make Will into a zombie?"

"The truth is I didn't, Winnifred," Elsa admitted. "It was a gamble, really."

"...You did it more to see what would happen, didn't you?" Winnie surmised.

"What can I say?" the patch-work woman said with a small smirk. "After all, I am a Frankenstein."

* * *

 **[1] - As seen in part 3 of The New Frontier**


	6. El Tigre

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

El Tigre: Love and Duty

* * *

The sun's ray's peeking through the closed blinds of windowsill was what woke Manny up from his slumber. He grumbled a few incoherent words as he reached over to his bedside drawer and fumbled around for his phone. After finally finding it, he looked at the digital clock, saw that it was 11:25 AM and let out a groan. If he was at his father's house, he would have been berated by his dad for sleeping in, even if it was a weekend. Thankfully, Manny was at his mother's house for the weekend and she let him sleep late. Besides, she was out for the day recording tracks for her latest album and wouldn't be back until later tonight, allowing her son to stay in bed all day if he so chose to.

Rather than get up and get dressed, he put his phone back, wanting to at least get another thirty minutes of sleep in before starting the day. But, just as he set it down, his Infinity League communicator went off, nearly making him jump out of his skin. He quickly reached over and answered it, making sure not to switch on the COMM's holo-projection setting and stuck to audio only as he did.

"Yeah?" he said into the COMM.

"Dude, are you gonna show up at all today?" Dipper's voice asked on the other end of the line. "Your shift started like forty minutes ago."

Manny let out a groan at that. Wen he was first recruited into the Infinity League, he thought it would be a neat idea to fight crime alongside other young heroes across the globe, but what everyone failed to mention to him was that saving the world required serious work. Whenever he was on his shift, he usually found himself wrapped up in world-ending crises every other day of the week. Last week alone, he was almost crushed by the Kaiju named Varan, nearly gutted by Goldar and had his molecules rearranged by a machine created by Dr. Dementor.

Still, he somehow hated being ordered around more than he did being nearly killed by some villain. Before he was a member of the League, he enjoyed being his own superhero, unless he was working with his dad, White Pantera, or scheming with his grandfather, Puma Loco.

"Yeah, give me like ten minutes," finally answered.

"Alright, dude, you're the one who's gonna get chewed out for being late, not me," Dipper replied.

"Just tell them I'm fighting a supervillain or something," Manny suggested.

With that, he hung up. He then turned his attention to the other side of his bed, where he looked upon the person he was sharing it with. Her name was Zoe Aves, and their relationship was a complex one to say the least. Years back, during his early days of being El Tigre, he fought several battles with Zoe, who in reality was the bird-themed villainess known as Black Cuervo. Together, with her mother and grandfather, they were known and feared throughout the streets of Miracle City, Mexico as the Flock of Fury. The trio of women had sworn a blood oath to destroy the Rivera family at any cost in several acts of vengeance for the heartbreak they suffered from each member of the family. For the longest time, Manny fought against Zoe in her villainous persona and that was it. That was, until a year ago, where during a fight between the Flock and the Riveras, the two were separated from the others in a brutal fight.

It was during this fight that Manny knocked Zoe's helmet off to reveal her true face to him. In her public identity, Zoe was Manny's classmate and rival to his best friend turned girlfriend, Frida. (granted, he and and the blue-haired rocker had gone back to being friends by this point.) With him and Frida no longer dating, Manny had had been noticing Zoe in school more often and, while they were on good terms, he never attempted to date her, thinking that she'd say no out of spite for Frida, who in turn would be also mad at him for asking out her rival. But in that moment of seeing Zoe's true nature, Manny's whole world turned upside down. Rather than continue the fight, he let her escape before the rest of his family could arrive on the scene.

Later that night, Manny laid awake in bed, trying to mentally process what he had just witnessed. There was a time years ago where Manny and Frida suspected that Zoe was Cuervo, but they were mislead by a trick to hide Zoe's secret identity with the help of her grandmother. His mind raced with a thousand questions, but there was one that always kept reemerging: Could he still be with her now that he knew who she really was? That question kept lingering in his mind until he finally saw her again in school. He pulled her aside and swore that he wouldn't share her secret identity with anyone else. Rather than ask why he would do such a thing, she merely thanked him, awestruck that he would do her an act of kindness such as this. From that point on, their relationship as rivals began to change from one of hate to one of respect, then flirtation, and then, finally, one of love.

Of course, a romance such as their's was one that was looked down upon by both heroes and villains alike, not to mention that their parents would be firmly against this and stop at nothing to keep them apart. Zoe once made a joke that they were like Romeo and Juliet, only with more lasers and a much bigger chance of dying a more painful death. But, despite all of that, they stayed together and kept their love hidden from the rest of the world.

"Hey," he greeted gently. "I gotta go."

"Yeah, I heard," Zoe said as she rolled over to face him. "Seriously, Rivera, you have no concept of volume control."

"You're one to talk," her lover teased. "You were pretty loud last night yourself."

"Maybe you can stick around for a bit and see what other sounds I can make?" Zoe suggested in voice that was smooth as silk.

"As much as I'd love nothing more than that, mi amor, I gotta go," the hero denied. "I don't want to be in more trouble with the League than I already am."

"Fine, fine," Zoe agreed. "Besides, I should head home myself. I told my mom I was out all night casing the new bank."

"And she bought that?" Manny inquired curiously.

"Like a fish to a hook," Zoe confirmed with a smirk.

With a quick kiss between the two, they both got out of bed and began to get dressed. Manny was dressed in his regular attire while Zoe put her armor back on. Once he was fully dressed, Manny spun his belt buckle and became his superhero/villain persona, El Tigre.

"I'll see you after my shift is done, babe," he informed is girlfriend. "Assuming I don't get forced into doing overtime with some world-ending-type junk."

"It's a date," Cuervo agreed with another kiss.

With that, the young villain turned and went to the bedroom window and opened it in order to take off, but before she could, she heard Manny make an 'ahem' to her.

"Zoe," he said calmly. "Give them back"

"Give what back?" she asked, unsure what he meant by that.

"Zoe..." he repeated in a firmer tone, holding his hand out as he did.

"Oh, fine!" she finally relented. "You're no fun!"

Zoe reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of jewelry that belong to Manny's mother before handing them back to her boyfriend. As much as Tigre loved Cuervo, he knew that she was still a villain. However, rather than try to change her into a hero like in so many comic book cliches, he allowed her to remain the way she was. One thing that Manny understood that his father never did was if a relationship was to remain intact, one shouldn't try to force change on their lover, but let it come naturally should that even happen. If Zoe chose to give up being a villain, then she would do so herself. Besides, he wasn't exactly on the side of angels sometimes either. Plus, if Manny was being honest, he liked bad girls. The secret couple also had a rule in their relationship: neither would tell the other about their missions. This way, they wouldn't be able to spoil each other's respective teams' activities to be used against them by said teams.

With another, final parting kiss, Cuervo jumped out the window and took off into the sky. Once his lover was gone, Manny gave the okay to Dipper to be teleported up to Skyward Tower.

* * *

It wasn't before long that Zoe returned to her home/supervillain HQ. She flew down into the bird-shaped observatory and suspected to see her mother and grandmother in the midst of either scheming for their next heist or upgrading their respective armor and weaponry. What everyone seemed to underestimate about the Flock of Fury was that they were not only lethal, but smart. Zoe's mother and her grandmother both had masters degrees in engineering, chemistry, advanced mechanics and aeronautics. The goth girl herself was also quite intelligent in her own right, considering that she built her armor and weapons herself from starch. True, her mother gave her a hand every now and again and taught her how to fight, but this armor was her achievement.

However, neither elder member of the villainous trio was doing either of what Zoe was expecting of them. Instead, they were both standing in front of a hologram of their weapons dealer, Black Hat. The demonic arms dealer always gave the goth the creeps, and while he supplied her family with the weapons and tech they needed to carry out their various crimes, His very smile chilled her to her bone. Zoe didn't catch what the group was talking about, but Black Hat's attention focused on her when she arrived on the scene.

"Ah, the little one has finally shown up," the demon stated. "Now I can make my offer to all three of you."

"And I will tell you 'no' again, Black Hat," Voltura informed. "We're not interested."

"What is he talking about, Mom?" Zoe asked.

"It doesn't matter, miha," her mother replied. "Because we are refusing."

"I wish you'd reconsider, Carmelita," Black Hat insisted. "The world is becoming a scary place for people in our line of work."

As much as Zoe hated to admit it, the demon was right on that remark. Ever since the Infinity League had been formed and had been rapidly expanding its numbers, it was hard for any villain to make ends meet these days. There were also horror stories she heard about how supervillains, serial killers and other criminals were being round up after either being suddenly given to Global Justice's custody or after battles with the League by the GJN and never heard from again. **[1]**

"If our enemy is any indication, there is safety in numbers," he furthered. "If we have any chance of combating the Infinity League, then we must unite as one!"

"You mean, unite as one...under your thumb," Voltura corrected. "Sorry, but the Flock of Fury will never bow to anyone!"

Black Hat get out a low growl of dissatisfaction from his throat, making the family of villains begin to feel apprehensive. Black Hat was as powerful as he was temperamental and could easily use his dark powers to reach out from wherever he was hiding these days and kill all three women without breaking a sweat. Thankfully, the arms dealer composed himself before speaking again.

"That is...unfortunate," he stated. "I trust you'll still buy from me regardless?"

"It's not like we have a choice," Lady Gobbler mentioned harshly. "You've killed all the other local sellers and Destro charges too damn high!"

"Then perhaps we can come to an agreement," Black Hat reasoned. "If you do a little favor for me, then I'll give you this month's shipment of parts for your suits for free."

"You don't just give out anything for free, Black Hat," Carmelita noted in suspicion. "What exactly is this favor?"

"There's an GJN armored convoy of confiscated alien weapons passing through your neck of the woods tonight," the demon began. "If you get me those weapons, then I'll give you what you want without charging you a single dime."

Voltura went silent for a moment, a clear sign that she was considering this. It was too good to be true for Zoe, and she knew her mother had the same thought too. But, thanks to the League and the GJN, it was getting harder and harder to commit any successful crimes these days, so the funds they needed for their suits were starting to dry up. The Flock hated the idea of directly fighting the Global Justice Network, knowing what would follow soon after. After weighing her options, Voltura answered her dealer.

"We'll do it if you give us our shipments free of charge for the next three months," she demanded. "That's my offer. Take it or leave it."

"Done," Black Hat agreed, a little to quickly for Zoe's taste. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Black Hat's image vanished, leaving Zoe to finally speak her mind.

"So nice of you to consult the rest of us before making your decision," she said, her voice heavily laced with sarcasm. "Truly a team leader through and through."

Her mother's answer came in the form of her suddenly reaching out and grabbing her by her chest plate and slamming her up against the wall. Voltura was by no means an abusive mother, at least, that's what she told herself, but she wasn't exactly a caring one either. She had a tendency to compliment her daughter one moment and back hand her the next. Voltura told her that her form of tough love was the only true love she was ever going to receive in this cold world, which was a total lie considering that she was given actual love by Manny. Zoe's grandmother stood on the sidelines, sizing up her daughter and granddaughter to see which would be the stronger in these fights like she always had done. No doubt this cycle of harsh love came from her after Puma Loca left her at the alter all those years ago.

"Open your mouth like that again and I will rip your tongue out!" Carmelita threatened.

"This is bullshit and you know it, Mom!" Zoe snapped. "He's up to something and we're gonna get screwed because of it!"

"We don't have a choice!" her mother shouted back. "We need those shipments!"

"We can just steal what we need ourselves!" Zoe countered. "We don't need him!"

"We're doing this, Zoe!" Voltura proclaimed slamming her daughter into the wall again to stress her point. "Do you understand me?"

Zoe glared back her mother defiantly.

"I said 'do you understand me?!'" Voltura snapped, punching her the stomach in the process.

"Y-yes...Mother," her daughter wheezed out.

After getting her answer, Carmelita dropped Zoe to the floor, letting crumble up into a fetal position as she tried to recover from the pain her abdomen.

"Now, get ready for tonight," the vulture-themed villain sneered.

As Zoe tried to pull herself from the floor, her family went about preparing for tonight's heist. Once she was able to stand on her feet again, Zoe limped silently back to her room and cried in the darkness.

* * *

The second Manny materialized on Skyward Tower, he saw a rather cross looking Danny Phantom standing beside Dipper and looking back at him with anger in his green eyes.

'Oh, good, he's already pissed off at me,' Manny thought to himself sarcastically. 'That saves me a lot of work.'

Despite being a member of the Infinity League, Manny had a rather strained relationship with his peers. It wasn't just because of the fact that he was the grandson of a notorious supervillain like Puma Loco, but also because of the various crimes he committed during his time as El Tigre. As one would imagine, this made his untrustworthy among his fellow heroes. In fact, originally, the League's leaders only wanted Manny's father to join and wanted nothing to do with him at all due to his checkered past. However, White Pantera refused to join unless his son was allowed membership as well, saying that this team was what he needed to keep him on the side of justice. After putting it to a vote, the League's leaders allowed Manny to join their ranks, but kept a close eye on him whenever he was around.

"Hey, so, they didn't believe the supervillain story," Dipper noted.

"Maybe next time you should switch off your communicator's tracker before saying anything," Danny added sharply. "And maybe think of a different lie from the one you've constantly used over and over again while you're at it."

"Hey, I'm here now, aren't I?" Manny defended before making a mock saltue. "El Tigre reporting for duty, your worship!"

"Cut the crap, Rivera!" the half-ghost warned. "You don't get to just waltz into the Tower whenever you please. What if we needed you sooner and you weren't here? Or do you not grasp the concept of a team?"

"I'm not in the mood for a 'power and responsibility' speech, Casper," El Tigre replied dully. "Just let me do my job in peace."

"You know, when we voted on weather or not you should join the League, Kim, Jenny and I were against the idea of having you here," Danny informed. "And so far, you've done nothing to prove me wrong."

"I'm guessing you wouldn't come down from you throne unless you needed me for something," Manny noted. "So, can we skip any further pleasantries and get to the point?"

"You're needed for a mission," the half-ghost told him. "We just got an anonymous tip that the Flock of Fury is going to try and rob a GJN armored transport carrying alien weapons."

That took Manny by surprise. Due to the rule Zoe and him had, he had no clue that his lover's family would be crazy enough to attempt such a thing.

"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to keep his cool. "I mean, it could just be prank or something."

"Maybe, but we can't take any chances," Danny replied. "You've the most experience with the Flock, so we need you on the team that's going to be on security detail for the transport."

"What about my dad?" Tigre inquired. "Why not ask him instead?"

"Your dad's still helping out with cleaning up in Bejing after that recent battle between Rodan and Megalon," Danny answered. "Believe me, we would've preferred asking for his help, but instead, we're stuck with you."

Manny growled at that as he clenched his fists in anger, but said nothing.

"Report to the briefing room on level B at once," the spectral hero ordered. "You've made them wait long enough."

With that, Danny turned and left, leaving Manny standing there for several moments in his anger before heading to carry out his mission. As he did, one thought went though his mind: How was he going to keep Zoe safe?

* * *

As Manny entered the briefing room, he found several heroes who had already gathered and had been waiting for him to arrive. There was Raphael, a member of the Ninja Turtles, Broadway, a Gargoyle of the Manhattan Clan, Rena Rouge, one of the guardians of Paris, Gung-Ho, the rough and tumble marine from G.I. Joe, Ironhide, the second-in-command of the Autobots and finally, the Yellow Power Ranger, bearer of the Sabertooth Tiger Power Coin.

All eyes fell on El Tigre as he stepped into the room, who brushed off their cross looks in response to them. It was then that Manny saw who was leading this certain group of heroes. It was the American Dragon. A League Leader and one of the people who voted him into the Infinity League. Unlike Danny, the Dragon was one of the few heroes who treated him fairly and was one of the more easier people to work with. In fact, the Dragon was the tie-breaker in the vote for if Manny was worthy to join the team after Kim, Danny and Jenny voted against him while Prime, SheZow and the Ninja voted for him.

"Nice of y'a to finally join us, Tigre," Ironhide mentioned sharply.

"Only took you, what, an hour to get here?" Raphael added, his patience clearly having ran thin.

"Leave him alone, guys," Dragon said. "He's here now, and that's all that matters."

Once Manny had sat down, the Dragon began to talk about the plan to protect the transport.

"Okay guys, let's be real. There might be a good chance that this might all be BS. But if it isn't, then we need to be ready for them."

"So, what's the plan?" Broadway inquired.

"Ironhide will disguise himself as one of the armored cars and be on the end of the line with Gung-Ho dressed as a driver, since that'll be one the Flock will most likely attack," the Dragon explained. "Rena, you create an illusion inside of Ironhide to make it look like the weapons they're after. The rest of us will observe the transports from the rooftops and keep an eye out for them."

As Manny listened to the Dragon's plan, he inwardly began to think of anyway he could keep Zoe and her family out of the GJN's hand. He had to be extremely careful about aiding the Aves family, least he be thrown into prison alongside them. He doubted he keep the entire Flock of Fury out of custody, but as long as he kept his lover out of the GJN's reach, he could live with himself. And honestly, he was pretty sure Zoe would be fine with that.

"Tigre," the Dragon addressed. "Do you have any notes you wanna share on how to beat these guys?"

Finally. An opportunity he needed to save his girlfriend from a life behind bars. He had to play the part of a determined hero instead of a man trying to keep his lover safe.

"The Flock prefer to do hit-and-run heists, but they'll fight back if they're cornered," he informed the other heroes. "They fight at their best when they're together, so we should try to split them up. You guys should let me handle Cuervo. I have the most experience with her."

"I bet you do," Raph noted mockingly. "Didn't you and her have a thing?"

"I was working undercover for my dad when that happened," El Tigre defended. "Trust me, Z-I mean, Black Cuervo, is gonna wanna shoot me instead of kiss me."

Manny mentally cursed himself for nearly saying his girlfriend's real name to the other heroes. The Flock had paid a hefty sum of bribe money to the Miracle City PD to keep their true identities out of their databases and they wanted to keep their true selves hidden from the rest of the hero community. While he thought that his teammates didn't catch his error, he failed to notice that the Dragon was narrowing his eyes in suspicion at that small slip of the tongue that Tigre had mentioned, but said nothing, shrugging it off as a brain fart of sorts.

"Alright, dudes, get you gear and get ready to head out to Miracle City in next hour," he informed his team.

* * *

Zoe and her family and been keeping their distance as they followed the GJN convoy. As they flew high above the armored cars, they used the cover of the clouds in the night's sky to mask their approach. Zoe still had her misgivings about this heist, but she knew better than to question her mother again. Like a pride of lions stalking a heard of zebras, the Aves family waited for one the vans to either be slowed down or cut off from the rest of the convoy so they could strike.

There was a part of the goth girl who wanted to break off from the rest of her family and let them continue on with this suicide mission by themselves, but she ignored that thought, not just because she knew what her mother would do to her, but because she did, in a twisted way, care for her family. The young goth knew that this wasn't how a family should be, but she had no other option. She couldn't just drop everything and run away with Manny like in the movies. This was real life, and in real life, she couldn't just up and leave the only people who cared about her, no matter how often they struck her.

Her mother then pointed down to the convoy, showing the other members of the Flock that one of the trucks had suddenly pulled over while the rest of the convoy continued to move ahead. At first, the Flock was a bit apprehensive about moving to intercept the downed truck, fearing that this may be a trap, but greed got the better of Voltura, and soon enough, the Flock descended downward to begin their attack.

The driver had just stepped out of the vehicle when Voltura swooped down from the sky, grabbed hold of the driver and pinned him up against the wall of a nearby building. She then activated her wrist laser and pointed it directly at the man's face.

"You speak, you die," she warned him in a low voice. "Got it?"

The driver nodded in understanding. While her mother held the the driver in place, Zoe and her grandmother went to the back of the truck and opened it, keeping their weapons drawn. Inside was a single female guard sitting beside several crates that no doubt held the Flock's prize. The guard put her hands up and backed away as Lady Gobbler kept her staff trained on her, thus allowing Zoe to crack open the crates and see what weapons were within it. Inside the boxes were several alien weapons ranging from Kraang and Cybertronian to Cluster and even Triceraton. But, just as Zoe reached down to pick up one of the weapons, the guns and the boxes themselves suddenly vanished in a cloud of orange smoke. The guard smirked at the sight, instantly making Cuervo realize what had happened.

"It's a trap!" she exclaimed in a panic.

The guard's uniform faded away to reveal the French hero, Rena Rouge, who kicked the two stunned villains out of the back of the truck. The attack distracted Voltura long enough for the 'driver' to now make his move.

"Yo, Joe!" Gung-Ho shouted as he smacked the wrist laser out of his face and cracked the villain across the jaw.

Voltura stumbled back before retreating to the rest of her team. Rena climbed out of the truck and approached the trio of villains as Gung-Ho joined her side.

"Well, well, well," the marine said as he and Rena approached the trio. "Looks like we caught us a couple of ducks for dinner!"

"You're still still outnumbered!" Voltura snarled back.

"You might wanna recount," Rena corrected her.

Moments after the fox-themed hero had spoken, Broadway, Raphael, the Dragon, the Yellow Ranger and much to Zoe's dismay, El Tigre, all descended down from the rooftops they were hiding from and surrounded the trio. Once the heroes revealed themselves, Ironhide transformed into his robot mode, changing back into his red color scheme as he did.

The Flock of Fury was outnumbered and outmatched by the group that now encircled them, but, despite their odds being against them, Zoe only saw her lover standing against her like their younger days. Manny looked back at his secret girlfriend with pain in eyes. He hated this. He wanted nothing more than to start attacking his comrades and clear a path for Zoe to make her escape, even if that meant damning himself to lifetime behind bars. But, as much as he wished he could do that, he knew he'd only do more harm than good for both of them.

"You've got one chance to surrender," the Yellow Ranger declared as she readied her Power Daggers. "I suggest you take it."

"And be thrown to the mercy of Global Justice? I think not!" Voltura snapped back defiantly.

"Please, Voltura, for once in your life just listen to reason," El Tigre pleaded. "Think of your daughter."

The Dragon was surprised by this sudden act of peacemaking from El Tigre, especially on the Flock's behalf. He then noticed a look of concern from Cuervo's eyes. It was small, but it was enough for the winged reptile to see that perhaps there was a connection between them.

"HA! You have some nerve, Rivera!" Voltura spat. "You've broken my daughter's heart more times than I can count, and now you care for her well-being?"

'If you only knew,' he thought to himself before speaking again. "I'm trying to help you out here!"

"I suggest you listen to him, little missy," Ironhide spoke out. "Ya can't fight your way out of this one."

"Watch us!" the Flock's leader sneered. "Vendetta!"

With the trio's battle cry, Voltura fired her wrist laser at Manny, who narrowly evaded the blast and the battle was on. The Flock quickly spread out and picked their targets. Zoe avoided fighting her boyfriend and instead focused on her attack on the Yellow Ranger. Likewise, Manny did the same and launched himself at Lady Gobbler, though he did keep an eye on his lover as he did. However, in his act to keep a watch on his lover, he failed to notice a laser blast from Lady Gobbler's staff that sent him flying backwards. The elderly villain would have finished him off had it not been for a flying roundhouse kick from Rapheal into her chest that saved him.

El Tigre quickly recovered from his hit at the same time his attacker did, who now drew an egg-shade grenade and activated it before throwing it at the two heroes. Fortunately, Ironhide managed to reach out and grab the the explosive, letting it blow up in his hand.

"Heh, that all you got?" the Autobot mocked. "I've had Scrapplet bites that hurt more than that!"

Lady Gobbler was stunned by the alien machine's ability to remain unharmed by her bomb, giving Raph the chance to try and throw one of his sais at her, only for her to knock it away with her staff. She then activated a switch on her weapon, unleashing a high-pitch sonic wail from it, bringing the trio to their knees from the sonic blast. Luckily, the Yellow Ranger, having narrowly avoided an energy blast from Zoe's cannons, knocked out the elderly villain with a surprise left hook, saving the others from her weapon.

Meanwhile, Voltura was busy fighting the Dragon, Broadway and Rena while Cuervo fought Gun-Ho, who was quickly aided by Tigre. He did not wish to do so, but he wanted to make sure that his lover would be safe. Meanwhile, the other heroes had since joined the fight against Voltura, who was already being beaten back. Knowing that she was going to lose this fight, Carmelita turned to look at her daughter as she took out another egg-bomb of a different coloration.

"Run!" she commanded before throwing the egg down.

Manny already knew what that particular egg was meant for and had already shielded his eyes from the ensuing flash of bright light. Zoe was unaffected by the blast thanks to her helmet's visor. Taking the chance her mother had given her, she flew off into the night's sky. However, while Tigre was at first thankful that she had managed to escape, he saw that the Dragon had also covered his eyes just in time to avoid being affected by the blast of light as well. He quickly spread his wings and took off after the young villain. Throwing caution to the wind, Manny shot out his fist chain, grabbed onto a nearby rooftop and swung after the two.

While the chase was going on, the other members of the League charged towards Voltura, only for her to quickly fly off into the skies, holding onto Lady Gobbler as she did so. Broadway was about to fly after them, only for another of Carmelita's egg-shapped flash bombs to go off, blinding the heroes once more.

"Leaking lubricants!" Ironhide cursed.

Black Cuervo had only made it a hundread yards away from the fight when the American Dragon closed in on her and slashed open her jetpack, causing to fall from the sky and smash down into into an alleyway. Thankfully, the armor took the brunt of the impact from the fall, leaving Zoe with only a few bruises. The Dragon landed in front of her with his claws at the ready while Zoe drew her wrist laser, refusing to back down. But before either could make a move, the Dragon suddenly collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap. Standing behind the now knocked out League leader was Manny, who had crossed a line for his love.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Zoe said in utter disbelief.

"Saving you," Manny affirmed.

"But they'll know you helped me!" his lover reasoned.

"Then I'm gonna need you to make this look good," her lover began. "Shoot me."

"What?! No!" Cuervo denied.

"It's the only way I keep out of prison and you can still have a chance to escape," El Tigre explained.

"I'm not shooting you!" Cuervo refused.

Just then, the two secret lovers heard the distant voices of the other League members who were fast approaching. Knowing time was running out, Manny pulled her close and kissed Zoe deeply.

"We're out of time," he whispered to her.

Zoe nodded slowly in agreement before pressing her wrist laser up against his torso.

"It's okay, Zoe," he assured her. "You can never hurt me."

With another kiss, Manny felt a sharp pain in his torso as a bright flash of violet light overtook his vision.

* * *

The first thing Manny saw when his eyes finally opened again was a bright light, making him think that perhaps Zoe shot him with a little too strong a blast. But once more of his sight came back to him, he saw that Ford was standing over him, as well as Danny, who was looking down at him.

"Did I go to Hell?" Manny dryly joked. "It would explain why you're here."

"Very funny," Danny replied. "Good to know you're sense of humor isn't injured."

Manny tried to sit up from the medical bed he had been placed on, but a sharp pain kept him down. He looked down to see that most of his costume was removed and that his torso had been wrapped in bandages.

"You took a nasty hit from Black Cuervo," Ford said. "Had it not been for your enhanced durability, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Then it hit him: what happened to his lover?

"Cuervo...Did she...?" he timidly asked, fearing the answer.

"She got away," Danny informed him. "The rest of the Flock got away too, but they didn't get their hands on any of the weapons, and that's what counts."

Tigre let out a mental sigh of relief at that. He kept the face of a hero who failed on the outside, but on the inside he was more than happy to hear that she was out of the hands of the GJN.

"What about the Dragon?" Manny asked. "Is he okay?"

"Aside from a really bad headache, I'm good," Dragon's voice cut in as he stepped into the infirmary.

"Dragon told us that you're the reason he's still alive," Danny added. "Cuervo was about to kill him, but you jumped in to protect him and fought her off."

That, of course, was a total lie. Manny looked at Dragon with a confused look, wondering if he had hit his teammate harder than he intended to. It was then that Danny spoke up again.

"I owe you an apology, Manny," he began. "You stayed and protected one of our own instead of turning on him. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"Looks like I finally proved you wrong," El Tigre said slyly.

"Get some rest," Danny said.

With that, Danny and Ford left the room with the Dragon following behind him when Manny spoke up again.

"What's going to happen to Cuervo?" he asked.

"GJN is staking out the Flock's hideout," the winged firebreather said. "She won't get far, dawg."

As the Dragon left the room, Manny frantically reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. Shortly after joining the League, Manny modified his communicator with Zoe's help to tap into into her helmet's frequency so that they could talk to one another when he was on Skyward Tower since cell phone service wasn't exactly the strongest in space.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up!" he whispered in a panic.

"Manny?" Zoe's voice asked on the other end of the line. "Oh, thank god! I thought I killed you for a second!"

"Zoe, listen to me, we don't have much time," he began in frantic voice. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm about to meet up with my family at a rendezvous point we set up before the heist," his lover replied. "Once I meet up with them them, we're headed back home."

"Don't go home!" Manny nearly shouted. "I just found out that there's a GJN ambush waiting for you there!"

"Are you serious?" Zoe asked. "What should I do?"

"You and your family need to get out of Miracle City until the heat dies down," Tigre suggested. "Don't tell me where you're going, just run!"

"But I might not see you again!" Zoe stated.

"I swear, I'll find you again, Zoe," Manny offered. "But what matters right now is that you stay safe for the time being."

"...Alright" Cuervo finally accepted. "I love you, Manny."

"And I love you, mi amor," he replied sadly.

Zoe switched off her end of the line, letting Manny listen to only the static as his heart sank deep into his chest in sorrow.

* * *

'Son of a bitch,' Jake thought to himself. 'I hate being right.'

The American Dragon knew that Black Cuervo didn't knock him out, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure if it was Manny who did either, only suspecting him from his actions throughout the day. But, after to tuning in on Tigre's frequency on his COMM., his suspicions were all but confirmed. There was a part of him that wanted to turn over his findings to Danny and the others and let them deal with him as they saw fit, but he refused to do so. Jake knew a thing or two about being in love with a bad girl, and he too had to keep his relationship with her on the down-low as well. He wasn't about to condemn someone for what he was also doing as well.

So, he let it go, knowing that Manny had already enough of a bad day as it was, and hoped that Cuervo was a lot more like Rose than his first impressions lead him to believe.

* * *

With their HQ compromised, the Flock of Fury were forced to flee from Miracle City entirely, knowing that they would get no help from the other villains who resided there. Cast out of their home by a forced exile, the trio had only one option of staying out of the GJN and the Infinity League's grasp.

Despite how much they hated it.

"It's a pity that you were forced to flee Miracle City," Black Hat noted as he met with the trio in his office. "But I'm so glad you chose to join us."

"We didn't have a choice," Voltura stated coldly. "If the League hadn't been tipped off, then we wouldn't be here."

"But they were, and now you are," the arms dealer informed her. "So, like it or not, you now work for me."

Flugg then stepped into Black Hat's office.

"Flugg will show you to your new quarters," the demon told them. "Welcome to the Society of Supervillains." **[2]**

As the Flock followed the mad scientist out of the office, Black Hat let out a soft chuckle, clearly happy at the thought that his scheme to get the Flock of Fury to join his Society went off ever so perfectly. Meanwhile, Zoe only clutched her necklace that held the tiny screw Manny had given to her so many years ago, all the while inwardly praying to whatever god was listening that she could be reunited with her love soon.

* * *

 **[1] - To know which supervillains are currently in GJN custody, read Part 11 of The New Frontier and Chapter 1 of The Dark Phoenix**

 **[2] - Concieved in Part 4 of The New Froniter**


	7. Jazz Fenton

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Jazz Fenton: Sanctuary

* * *

On the lower decks of Skyward Tower, there was a special wing of the Infinity League's base. It was a place of healing. Not one of the body, but of the mind. Everyone, weather they be a young child or a person in political power, all had their own share of personal demons that they fought behind closed doors, and the same could be said for superheroes. They had faced death, loss, war and other great tragedies that became an internal burden to them. Fortunately, now there was somewhere they could go and talk about what troubled them in private. This place was called Sanctuary, and it was run by someone who knew the internal struggles that a superhero had to go through on a daily basis.

Her name was Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton, the head of Sanctuary, chief counselor of the Infinity League and secret sibling to Danny Phantom. When the League was still in its infancy, Danny told his friends and family about joining this team of fellow heroes, and while they were all supportive, Jazz was worried for her younger brother. She knew that Danny went under a lot of stress being a superhero in Amity Park, but now with the League, he would be dealing with threats on a global scale that would no doubt take a serious toll on his mental state. So, after having a private conversation with him, she offered to be the League's very own therapist. While she hid the fact that she was really Danny's sister for her own protection, she was given the position with no qualms from the other League members.

By this point, Jazz had achieved her degree in psychology and was now more than capable of helping the heroes with whatever internal struggle they were dealing with. At first, the League members were apprehensive of going to Sanctuary, but soon enough, Jazz began to receive visits from almost everyone on the team. From the metahumans to even some of the Joes and Autobots, they all came to the young woman to bare their souls to her. Jazz kept her sessions with the heroes private, though she did record them for further study so she could better help her patients.

Today started out as any other. She was beamed up to Skyward Tower, went to her office, made some green tea, took a deep breath and began her day.

* * *

 **Case File #457 Session #14**

 **Code Name: SheZow**

 **Real Name: N/A**

"Thanks for seeing me on such short notice," the pink-clad hero said as she sat down on the couch. "I hope I didn't ruin your schedule."

"Not at all, SheZow. I always make time for my patients," Jazz assured. "So, how have you been since our last session?"

SheZow had come to Sanctuary several times. Mostly to vent about the pressure she felt about being one of the heads of the League, which was common for the other leaders to talk about while they were in here. Aside from Optimus, the others heads of the League regularly came into the counselor's office to talk about the daily stress they had to deal with now that they had to run a massive organization. Today, however, the therapist had a sense that SheZow wanted to talk about something other than her role as a leader.

"I, uh...don't know" SheZow admitted softly. "Lately I've been acting...different."

"Different?" Jazz repeated as a question. "How so?"

"It's like this, you see. Lately, I've been spending more time as SheZow than I have as my civilian identity. I mean, hell, last night I went to sleep in my costume, and it just felt so right to me."

"You think you're getting lost inside your superhero persona?"

"No, not like that. I mean I think I'm starting to question who I am as a person."

Jazz remained silent as she continued.

"Like, a week ago, I was passing by a mall while I was off duty and I noticed all these beautiful dresses in the window of one of the stores. And as I looked at them, I started to imagine myself in those dresses. Before I knew it, I was in the store going though the aisles and checking out the rest of the clothing the women's section."

"You mean you haven't done that before?" Jazz asked.

SheZow's face instantly went red with embarrassment, almost as if she had been caught lying. One of the options for the heroes within the hallowed walls of Sanctuary was that they could reveal their true identities to Jazz without fear of any backlash from the public eye, and while SheZow chose to keep her identity a secret, Jazz always has a sense that the pink-clad hero had more secrets than she was letting on.

"Let's just say I've always been a bit of a tom-boy," the metahuman finally answered. "But these days I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror whenever I'm not in my costume. Like it isn't my reflection looking back at me. Just a stranger who won't leave me alone."

SheZow then looked down in shame.

"I...I think there's something wrong with me."

"I don't think so," Jazz said. "I think your time as SheZow has been allowing you to get in touch with a side of yourself that you've always had subconsciously."

"You think I've always been like this and I didn't know it?" the hero surmised. "That's bullshit! I like watching buttwipe and hanging with my bros!"

"There's no reason you can't enjoy those things and still be whoever you want to be," the counselor reasoned. "There are many people who dress as both men and women and live completely normal lives."

"But I still like gir-I mean, guys," Shezow said defensively. "I thought if you crossdressed then that would mean you'd be gay too."

"But you're technically already crossdressing by wearing boys clothing in your off time, aren't you?" Jazz reminded her.

"Uh..." SheZow said, unable to think of a comeback. "Forget I said that."

"Okay then," Jazz replied, still confused by that remark. "Besides, crossdressing doesn't always equate to homosexuality. There are plenty of men and women who crossdress or change genders and still seek companionship from the opposite sex."

"For real?" SheZow asked, now interested. "So, I can still dress differently and still date girls-I mean, guys?"

"If that's your sexual orientation, then yes," the therapist confirmed. "What you wear doesn't define your gender. You do."

SheZow smiled brightly at that revelation, but that smile then became a frown.

"But what about my family? What will they think if I told them? I'm pretty sure my mom, my sister and my sidekick would accept me, but there's no way my dad would."

"Yes, that may happen and it will hurt," Jazz agreed. "But you have to remember: You're SheZow. One of the most powerful beings on Earth and a leader of the Infinity League. You shouldn't care about what anyone says about what you decide to do with your life. Because in the end, it's their loss. Not your's."

The heroine of Australia again smiled brightly at that. She then stood up and hugged the therapist in a tight, yet caring embrace.

"Thanks, doc," she said.

* * *

 **Case File #632 Session #11**

 **Code Name: Maverick**

 **Real Name: Penn Zero**

"So, here we are again, 'the rapist,'" Penn teased. "Should I tie myself down while you work your magic?"

"Penn," Jazz said in a calm tone.

"Or maybe I can be be whipped this time?"

"Penn," Jazz repeated in a slightly firmer tone.

"Or how about I go Fifty Shades-"

"Penn!" the counselor nearly shouted. "Have you been taking the anti-depressants I prescribed to you?"

The redhead instantly stopped his jokes as his playful face turned into one of shame. The reason behind Penn's visits to Sanctuary was that he suffered from PTSD, and while he hid his pain well from his fellow League members with a smile and a strong sense of humor, he suffered in silence. Penn had been seeking Jazz's counsel for a while now, and in that time, he was trying to make sure he could keep up appearances around the rest of his team.

"I have," he finally said in a dejected voice. "And aside from Sashi, no one else knows."

Sashi Kobayashi was Penn's part-time sidekick turned girlfriend and was the only other person who knew of the young hero's mental state. Before they were members of the Infinity League, they were guardians of the Multiverse. Together, alongside their fellow friend and fellow part-time Wiseman, Boone, they fought the forces of evil and prevented the multiverse from falling into chaos. As one could imagine, it took quite a toll on the hero's mind. Jazz's sessions with Penn focused mostly on how to handle his depression and his sometime erratic behavior that was brought on by his PTSD. When he first visited Sanctuary, he confessed that before he and Sashi joined the League, he hit a low point in his life and attempted to commit suicide. Jazz had asked him what had driven him to do such a thing, but the young hero always dodged the question.

"I've spoken to Danny recently," the therapist noted. "He says you've been taking on a lot of fill-in shifts for other League members. More than anyone else on the team."

"Well, somebody's gotta save the world, am I right?" the ginger reasoned.

"That is true," Jazz agreed. "But I think you're taking all these shifts so you don't have to go home."

"Why would I do that?" Penn replied in a defensive voice. "I like having down time, but I wanna help the team out. I mean, you are aware that we are in the saving the world business, right?"

"I understand that, but I also understand that even heroes need some down time as well," the counselor answered. "Let me ask you: When was the last time you visited your parents?"

Penn hesitated at first before answering.

"Two weeks ago," he finally admitted before quickly adding "But I stay in constant contact with them when I'm on duty."

"I understand that you spent some of your time as a part-time hero trying to find your parents after they went missing," Jazz commented. "You finally have them back, and yet you still keep your distance from them."

"I'm not keeping my distance from them!" Penn suddenly snapped, shooting up from couch as he did. "I'm doing my goddamn job!"

Jazz knew that she had struck a nerve, but she kept her cool. This wasn't the first time that she had been shouted at by those she was trying to help, and like all those times before, she knew that the rage her patients showed was only part of the healing process. The therapist also knew that she had hit another soft spot by bringing up the young man's parents, who had only recently been brought back into his life after being lost on the most hostile world within the multiverse. The teen's parents were also invited to join the team, but they declined, saying they had officially retired from being heroes. Jazz was aware that Penn's parents also received therapy in order to heal from the mental scars they endured while in the hellscape they were trapped on for so long.

Boone also refused a membership to the League, also stated that he was done with his time as a hero. This caused a bit of a rift between the former Wiseman and his friends, who claimed that he was taking the easy way out. Since joining the Infinity League, neither Penn nor Sashi had kept in touch with Boone. Jazz also often wondered about Penn's lover's mental state as well, but she knew that she'd have little to no luck in trying to convince a woman who could snap her neck like a twig to visit Sanctuary anytime soon.

"They know I'm keeping the world safe like they did!" Penn continued to shout. "They're proud of what I'm doing and understand I have to be away from them!"

"I'm sure that they do, but you're also their son," Jazz noted. "I'm sure they would like to see you in person and not on a hologram."

"I can't afford to take a break," Penn defended. "If I do then it might be the end of someone's life."

"Yes, but whose life?" Jazz furthered. "I'm starting to wonder if the real reason you don't want to take a break is because you can't cope with a normal life."

Penn was about to make a retort, but his doctor continued.

"I read your file and noticed something," she furthered. "Three days after you tried to take your life, you and Sashi joined the League. And as I recall, you were overly ecstatic about joining."

"Yeah, so?"

"I think you weren't adjusting well to your life after your time being a part-time hero. You experienced so much and faced so many dangers. You even saved the Multiverse from being torn apart. I can only imagine that trying to transfer back to the days of being a normal teenager were hard after going through everything you encountered."

"That's an understatement," Penn said. "I mean, I protected the Multiverse on a daily basis for God sake! I nearly died on more than one occasion at the hands of my fucking art teacher who knew where I lived! Hell, there were nights were I couldn't sleep because I had this fear of him sneaking into my room and killing me!"

The two remained silent for several moments before Jazz spoke up again.

"I think it's time we finally talked about it," she began gently. "Tell me about the day you tried to kill yourself."

Penn's face became one of dejection once again before he slumped back down onto the couch. He took in a deep breath to collect his thoughts. There was no other way he could dodge this moment any longer.

"It started out as a pretty fun day to be honest," he began. "I took Sashi on a date to the movies. I don't think we watched it though, because we spent most of the time making out throughout it. We had ice cream after that and I took her home. Then I went home and had dinner and game night with my parents."

He sighed again before speaking again.

"But the thing is...The thing is...the whole day I was in this...haze. Like my body was on autopilot while on the inside I was trapped in this sort of fog that was nothing but hate for myself. It's like I was screaming at myself 'You don't deserve this!' 'You should be dead or out fighting villains!'"

Tears started to fall from his eyes.

"The next thing I know, I'm in my room late at night with a gun Uncle Chuck left behind when they moved back out," he furthered as his voice cracked from the oncoming pain. "It just felt like a logical train of thought to me at the time, you know? This was the only way I could get those voices out of my head!"

He buried his head in his hands as he started to sob.

"Just as I put the gun to my head and turned the safety off, my mom came up to my room. She startled me enough to make me pull the gun away from my head, but my finger pulled the trigger."

He then lifted his long curly red hair on the side of his head and revealed a scar sitting there.

"The bullet grazed the side of my head. My parents rushed me to the hospital, but..."

"But?" Jazz repeated questioningly.

"But I just kept begging them to let me die!" Penn admitted as he cried. "Oh God, I was screaming at my parents to let me finish it!"

As Penn cried into his hands, Jazz sat in silence. It broke her heart to see this young man, who was known to be a kind and happy go lucky member of the team be, nearly consumed by his own demons.

"My parents told Sashi and Boone about what happened, and they rushed to the hospital," Penn finally continued. "I felt like I failed them and failed myself."

"By trying to kill yourself?" his doctor inquired.

"No, by failing to," the hero corrected sadly. "I felt like, by not killing myself, I now forced them to pay attention to me and deal with this mess I put them in. A few days later, Sashi told me that we got offered to join the League. She told me that I hurt myself by falling down the stairs. Sashi and I accepted the invitation, but now that I think about...I don't think it was because it was the right thing to do, but because I knew if I was left alone at home, I'd try to end it all over again."

There where so many things Jazz wished she could say that could magically fix Penn's current situation, but sadly, with cases such as Penn's, it would be a long, painful road before he could be healed, and even then that relief may only be a brief respite. So, Jazz sat in silence and let Penn cry for the rest of his session with her.

* * *

After spending her hour with Penn and prescribing him another refill for his anti-depressants, she escorted the hero out of Sanctuary. As she waved Penn goodbye, she noticed the Ninja storming down the hall among the other passing heroes, but it wasn't just the Ninja who was moving fast in the hall. Someone was chasing after him. It was Kim Possible, and judging by the cross look in her eyes, she had some rather choice words for the protector of Norrsiville.

"Hey!" she snapped at him as she took him by the shoulder and spun him around to face her. "We are so not done having this conversation!"

"Yes we are, Kim!" the fellow League leader snapped. "I stand by what I said back there!"

"You can't say those things on public TV! And to make things worse, you put Rena in the spotlight too! What were you even thinking?!"

"I was thinking about all the people we could be helping right now! Or did you forget that was our job?"

"I'm not blind to what's going on over there, but it's not our business! How could you say those things and not stop to think about how it would make the rest of the League look?!"

"So, we'll just leave them to die then? And why? Because you care more about our appearance instead of having the spine to do the right thing?!"

"I'd step off if I were you. You are so fucking close to getting kicked out of the League at this point!"

"For what? Having the balls to want to do the right thing? If anyone should be kicked out, it's you for being a coward!"

As the two leaders continued to argue in the middle of everyone in the hall, Jazz was confused as to why they were so furious with on another or why they fighting in the first place. She had been with patients all day, so she hadn't been updated on any recent events today. Wanting answers, she went over to one of the heroes in the hall, Odd Della Robbia, AKA: Wild Katt, in order to get some answers.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Kim's chewing the Ninja out for some stuff he said on TV today," Odd began. "The Ninja was on a date with Rena Rouge after skipping out on a meeting with the other heads of the League when some reporters ambushed them and asked them a bunch of questions. When they asked them about why didn't the League step in during the riots in Paris, the Ninja said he wanted to before talking about he wants the League to be involved in certain affairs like the war in Ukraine."

Jazz was taken aback by that. The Infinity League had tried their best to stay out of affairs such as the Paris riots and the civil war in Ukraine for various reasons, but she never thought anyone on the team would be vocal about getting involved in such matters.

"Kelly's getting ready to do damage control with the press in about an hour," the cat-themed hero continued. "She's going to need to to do some serious clean up after this mess."

Kelly Hampton was the head of the SheZow fan club and the head of the Infinity League's P.R. department. Also, like Jazz, she was also secretly the sibling of the very hero whom she supported. It was Kelly's job to handle any and all matters of the press that centered around the League, weather that be after a major battle against the forces of evil or if someone within the League had done something that reflected poorly on the rest of the team.

"Optimus just left the Tower to go Moscow to personally apologize to the Russian Prime Minister for what the Ninja said about him," Cover Girl, a member of G.I. Joe, added. "Hopefully, he can smooth things over before this gets any worse."

"I don't know, it looks pretty bad enough as it is," Warpath, an Autobot commando, retorted. "Our ol' pal Senator Masterson has been having a- **BLAM!** -field day with what the Ninja said. He keeps calling us tyrants and monsters. It's- **POW!** -crazy!"

Just then, Jazz and the heroes heard the sound of angry shouts. They turned and saw that Kim and the Ninja were now screaming in each other's faces. Wanting to prevent a full on fist fight, two other heroes who were watching the drama unfold, Augger, the geologist of the Earth Cops, and Pearl, one of the Crystal Gems, quickly stepped in and pulled both leaders away from one another before they had a chance to try and take a swing at each other. After being separated, the two young heroes storm down opposites sides of the hallway.

Jazz wanted to try and help the two reconcile, but she knew that both Kim and the Ninja could be so stubborn, so she decided it would best to try and talk to them one-on-one for now. She went up the the Ninja and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked.

The Ninja paused for several moments before he finally gave Jazz his answer.

"...Yes."

* * *

 **Case File #874 Session #16**

 **Code Name: The Ninja**

 **Real Name: N/A**

"I can't believe Kim could be this cold!" the Ninja fumed angrily as he paced back and fourth in the room. "I just told it like it was and she refused to back me up?! I'm a head of this team like she is!"

Like with Penn, Jazz remained quiet and allowed the Ninja to get his rage out before further speaking to him. This wasn't the first time the Ninja had visited Sanctuary, for he too spoke about the stress that came with being a leader to her. He also told her about the ups and down he had with his lover, Rena Rouge, and how his relationship with her was sometimes strained by the fact that she wished to keep their identities a secret from one another.

But this was different. This time the Ninja was angry for something entirely different.

"We could be doing so much more out there and yet we just stick to fighting guys in costumes!" he stated. "I mean hell, we've got the smartest people on the planet working for us. If we really wanted to, we could have those guys find a cure for cancer, solve world hunger and end global warming in less than a year! Even more than that, we could doing way more good in places like Darfur, Roanapur, the Middle East and places like that than we are here!"

"Your heart is in the right place, Ninja," Jazz said. "But consider this: If the League did this, would we still be seen as heroes?"

"Of course we would!" the defender of Norrisville defended. "We'd be saving people more than their own government's would!"

Since being a part of the Infinity League, the Ninja had been very vocal about his distrust in the governments of the world, who he believed allowed the pain and suffering of the people they were supposed to serve while they got rich off of it. It was a vision that several heroes on the team shared, but the Ninja was the one who spoke up about the most. Jazz could understand why the Ninja would be so jaded by such groups, considering that his arch-enemy was a billionaire who no doubt had his hands in several pockets in the White House. She also knew that her brother shared that same distrust, since he fought the Guys in White, a government sanctioned group, more times than she could count. Thankfully, neither the Ninja nor Danny went to great extremes with their ideals.

"It's not that simple, and I think you know that," Jazz said. "Yes, some people would see us saviors, but others would see us as conquerors. We'd only split the world even further apart than it was before."

"But I don't see why we can't just go into somewhere like Ukraine, drive out the separatists and then help them restore order," the the black clad hero reasoned.

"Because there'd be a good chance they might want us to be in power," Jazz explained. "Or see us as another enemy to fight if they think we might use our powers on them."

The Ninja didn't consider that. He wanted nothing more than to rescue the people of the earth from what he considered to be the true evils of the world. He always wanted to fight for those who could not stand up against those whose voices overpowered theirs. His best friend, Howard, once said that he had become the people's hero ever since he defeated the Sorcerer. Always publicly outcrying Mcfist and joining in rallies against corporate villainy. But he never wanted that power, nor did he want to make the mistake of helping to put someone cruel into power either.

"I know you want to help everyone, but there are certain things that the League simply can't do," the therapist continued.

"So, what should I do?" the Ninja asked solemnly.

"The same as the rest of us. The best we can do."

* * *

Jazz and the Ninja spoke for another half hour until the hero of Norrisville finally felt that he was at some sort of peace. He had left and allowed Jazz to close Sanctuary for the night. It had been a long and mentally exhausting day, but still satisfying for the redhead none the less. Now it was time to be beamed back down to her home for a good night's rest.

Just then, she felt a hand reach out and touch her shoulder, making her spin around with a gasp of fright. To her surprise, it was Wendy Corduroy. A young heroine who hailed from Gravity Falls, Oregon. It was also shocking for her considering that Wendy had never had visited Sanctuary before until now.

"Wendy, what are you doing here?" Jazz asked.

"Hey, doc," she greeted timidly. "Listen, I know it's late, but I was wondering if we could chat?"

"I'd love to, but it's late-" Jazz attempted to say.

"Please!" Wendy nearly shouted in a panic. "I can't sleep! I'm starting to lose my mind!"

Up until now, Jazz had never met Wendy personally, but she was told that the heroine named Lumberjane was a strong willed and confidant young woman. However, Jazz only saw fear and near madness in the poor girl's eyes. Eyes that were begging for help.

"Come inside," the therapist offered as she reopened the doors to Sanctuary. **[1]**

* * *

 **Case File #976 Session #1**

 **Name: Wendy Corduroy**

 **Code Name: Lumberjane**

"So, how long have these dreams been bothering you?" Jazz asked.

"About four times this week," Wendy replied. "I had a few bad dreams last week, but lately they've been more...intense."

"Intense?" Jazz repeated questioningly. "How so?"

"Lately the dreams have been feeling more and more real," the heroine explained. "It's like I'm there."

"Tell me about these dreams," the therapist inquired.

Wendy took a deep breath before finally speaking.

"In these dreams, I'm standing in a destroyed city. It's Tokyo, I think, and in my dreams, I'm not alone. I'm with Steven, the White Ranger, I think I could even make out Star, Blossom, April and Aelita, and two other women. I couldn't tell who they were. We're all...looking at something."

"What are you looking at?" Jazz questioned calmly.

"At first, we're just looking at the city burning, but then..." Wendy's voice trailed off before she composed herself again. "There's this voice calling out to us."

"What does it say?" Jazz asked.

"It says that it wants one of us to join with it," the heroine answered. "God, it feels all so real! I can feel all this pain and death around me, but...but..."

"...But what?" Jazz persisted.

"I want to join with it!" Wendy nearly shouted. "God help me, I just want to be with that thing!"

Wendy began to weep as she buried her head in her hands, ashamed of herself for saying such a thing. Jazz was by no means an expert in deciphering dreams, but she knew that these nightmares were having a clear and traumatic effect on the young girl.

"I'm going to prescribe you some medication to help you sleep for now until we can get to the root of these dreams," the the therapist said. "If that doesn't help, we'll see if we can give you something a bit stronger. If you want, I'll see if I can get you ship you some Hypnocil from Springwood."

"You mean I have to come back here?" Wendy said in almost disbelief. "But I thought you could fix this."

"I wish it was that simple," the counselor answered. "But these things take time. Problems like these can't just be taken care of in one session."

"But I can't be seen here," Wendy denied. "What would people say?"

"They'd say that you're doing a good thing by taking care of yourself mentally," Jazz informed her. "Ford and Mason have visited Sanctuary several times. Even Mabel has had at least three sessions with me."

Wendy remained silent for several moments as she thought about her options. Her family weren't exactly the most forthcoming about their emotions, but these dreams were starting to take their toll on her and she was starting to get desperate for help.

"Okay, doc, I'll see you again," she finally relented. "Can you put me in for next Tuesday?"

"I think we can do that," Jazz assured.

With that, Jazz wrote a prescription for Wendy and showed her out of her office. But while she was happy that she could help the heroine, she couldn't help but have this deep feeling that these nightmares were only a small piece to something far greater and more terrible than she could imagine.

* * *

 **[1] - This meeting is a continuation of the events from chapter 2 of The Dark Phoenix.**


	8. Heidi Weinerman

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Heidi Weinerman: Keeping up with The Weinermans: Part 1

* * *

'Dear Miss Weinerman,

While your enthusiasm for the metahuman community is admirable, and you have quite an impressive history within multiple forms of media, we of the Infinity League's PR staff feel that you do not have the proper field experience for the position you are seeking. You may apply for said position again in six months, provided that the role is still open.

With respect,  
K. Hamdon, head of Infinity League P.R Department'

It was the fifth time Heidi had read the rejection letter and it still stung just as badly as it did the first time she read it. She had hoped that her resume was strong enough to get her in, but that clearly wasn't the case. Heidi had hoped that her coverage of both Norrisville's hero, the Ninja, and, by an extent, the team he worked with, the Infinity League, was more than enough to get her foot in the door when she applied for the job of field correspondent. But in order to gain that job, one would have to be out in the field, which was something she simply hadn't done. Granted, she had been caught up in dangerous scenarios in the past, but it was mostly out of happenstance. If her parents found this letter, they would be relieved that their daughter wouldn't be out risking her life on a daily basis just to make sure that the heroes were still seen in a good light.

However, if Heidi was being honest with both her parents and herself, she wanted nothing more than to put her life on the line for those who protected the earth. Even before she started her web series to help promote the Ninja, she had always admired the masked hero who safeguarded her home. As the years rolled on, more and more superheroes began to appear across the globe, and Heidi's admiration of them only grew stronger. The redhead may come off as a arrogant young woman, but deep down she cared for the world and was more than happy to see it guarded by those with great power. She may not have had powers herself, but if she could help the people see that these were people to look up to instead of people to fear, then that would be enough for her.

"So, you didn't get in?" came the grating voice of her brother.

Heidi growled as she turned to face her younger sibling as he sat down on the couch next to her. The Weinerman siblings had a very love-hate relationship, in that Howard loved to annoy Heidi, and she hated him for it. The heavyset ginger was currently stuffing his face with a bag of potato chips as he plopped down next to his elder sister, infuriating her as he did.

"I'm not in the mood, Howard!" she gritted through her teeth.

"Hey, I'm not here to bug you," Howard defended. "I'm generally bummed you didn't get in."

"You are?" his sister asked, surprised by that remarked.

"Of course I am," Howard furthered. "Now how am I supposed to get all those sweet League perks?"

Heidi instantly popped her brother over the head for that remark, who in turn accidentally dropped his chips on the ground. As the portly teen began to frantically pick up his snack off of the floor, the TV screen went from the movie Heidi had on as background noise to the local news.

"We interrupt this program to bring you this special news bulletin," the news anchor began. "Moments ago, two giant, stone-like creatures materialized in the middle of downtown Norrisville and have begun an assault on the city. The Infinity League has just arrived on the scene and are currently engaging the creatures as we speak. All citizens are advised to stay indoors or seek shelter until the League has stopped these monsters. We will update you once more information is available to us."

With that, the TV screen switched back to the movie, but that few moments gave Heidi an idea. It was risky, but this may be the perfect chance for the young newswoman to get into the League's good graces if she could get the story of the fight from an up-close and personal perspective. So, throwing cation to the wind, she shot off of the sofa and took off outside, jumped in her mother's car and drove towards the scene of battle.

Already knowing that what his sister was doing was downright idiotic, Howard took off after her on foot, all the while shouting for her to stop.

"Ah, screw it," Howard wheezed out as he tried to catch his breath. "She can take care of herself."

Just as Howard turned around to walk back into his home, he found him face to face with a pair hands that were currently reaching out for him.

* * *

Heidi was by no means a stupid girl, but what she was doing was downright moronic. She had never purposefully put herself in harm's way, but she needed this story if she was to join the League's staff. As she drove closer to the battle between the heroes and the monsters, all around her was a portrait of chaos. People were running for there lives, all the while screaming in horror as they did. The battle damage on the buildings that sat on each side of the road was a clear indication that she was getting closer to the war zone. She checked the battery life on her phone and made sure that she had enough power to film the battle. The closer she drove to the fight, the more the street was cluttered with debris and fleeing bystanders, forcing her to pull over and go the rest of the way on foot.

"I hope this works," she said to herself.

The first thing she saw was a flurry of lights that seemed to flash erratically off in the distance that were followed by deep roars of anger, a clear indication that the two opposing sides were still in the midst of their clash. As she got closer to the scene, she took shelter behind a nearby abandoned car, pressed record on her phone, and began to film the action. The two creatures that the League was against were just as the news said they were: a pair of stone giants, both of whom were over twenty feet tall. One had a more stone-like coloration while the other appeared to look like a walking volcano. Both were human in appearance, though they both wore what almost appeared to be gladiator helmets. Currently, the two giants were battling several members of the Infinity League, and judging by the the way the fight was going, it wasn't in the heroes' favor at the moment.

The first three heroes Heidi spotted were the Powerpuff Girls, the pint-sized powerhouses from Townsville, who were currently zipping around the volcanic giant as they punched and kicked the stone titan in a frenzy as they avoided their enemy's massive fists. The next two heroes she saw were Carapace, the turtle-themed hero from Paris, and Wild Katt, who also hailed from France. **[1]** The two heroes were currently jumping out of the way of a massive foot from the other giant. Swooping in from the clouds to strike the monster attacking Carapace in the back of the head was XJ-9, the robotic heroine from Tremerton. Just then, Heidi felt a great whoosh of air. She looked up to see for a split second to see SheZow, the heroine of Megadale, flying in like a pink comet before impacting the giant that the Powerpuff Girls were fighting in its chest, making it stumble back. However, the blow from the pink-clad hero did little to faze the titan, who swiped SheZow out of the air and sent her hurtling backwards into the building behind where Heidi was hiding, smashing through the wall and sliding across the floor before finally coming to a stop.

Heidi, not thinking about her footage or her own safety, ran from her hiding place and into the building SheZow had just smashed into. She found the heroine laying up against a pile of debris, motionless. Heidi ran over to SheZow's side and immediately checked her pulse to make sure that she was still alive. Thankfully, Heidi could feel that the superhero's pulse was still active, letting the redhead breath out a sigh of relief in the process. Moments later, the pink-clad hero's eyes slowly opened, allowing her to see who had come to her aid.

"Did I die?" SheZow groaned out as she slowly sat up. "Because I'm looking at an angel."

Heidi involuntarily blushed at that remark before quickly brushing it off and refocusing on the situation at hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, peachy," SheZow replied sarcastically as she rubbed her head before making a realization. "Hey, who are you anyway?"

"I'm Heidi, Heidi Weinerman," the redhead introduced as she help the female hero to her feet.

"What are you even doing here?" the pink-clad heroine demanded. "Didn't you get the evacuation order?"

"I came down here to record you guys beating those monsters," Heidi explained. "Speaking of which, what are those things anyway?"

"Those two big pains-in-the-ass would be Tragg and Granitor. They're creatures from a place called Dimension X," SheZow explained before stopping herself. "Wait, why am I telling you this? You need to get out of here!"

"But I'm trying to-" Heidi tried to explain herself.

"To what? Get yourself killed?!" SheZow cut off sharply. "You can't stay here just to get your adrenaline fix!"

"But I'm trying to join the League!" Heidi reasoned.

"This isn't exactly what I'd call a good audition," SheZow retorted.

"I'm trying to join your team's staff," the young newswoman explained. "I was rejected today by the head of the PR department. I thought that if I filmed you guys I could get in."

"That is hands down the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" the heroine declared. "Seriously, did you think recording us fighting like an amateur would get you on our staff?"

Before Heidi could further plead her case, a voice came through Shezow's communicator.

"SheZow, are you okay?" Blossom's voice asked.

"Just shaken up, but I'm good," the fellow heroine assured.

"Well hurry up!" Buttercup's voice exclaimed over the COMM. "We're getting our butts kicked out here!"

"I'm on on my way," Shezow said before looking back at Heidi. "You need to leave."

With that, SheZow began to make her way back out toward the battlefield, leaving Heidi with her shame. The pink-clad heroine was right. This entire idea was stupid and downright dangerous. She had let her obsession get the better of her and she could've been killed for it. She wanted to help the hero community, but this was horrible way to do so.

However, just as SheZow approached the hole she had made when she was knocked through the building, a sudden thought raced into the redhead's mind.

"You said those things came from another dimension, right?" she mentioned. "So, how did they get here in the first place?"

SheZow paused for a moment, unable to give Heidi a proper answer. From what the Ninja Turtles had told the League about Dimension X, and from how they explained it, it was difficult to both enter and exit the dimension with out a proper power source. So, exactly how did the two physically strongest creatures from that place somehow appear smack-dab in the middle of Norrisville? Wanting answers, SheZow took out her communicator again in order to contact someone who could give the secretly male hero the answers he needed.

"Wade," SheZow began. "I need you to scan Tragg and Granitor's energy signature and see if you can find that same reading anywhere in the city."

"On it!" the voice on the other end said. "...It looks like there's a similar energy signature emanating from just outside of town."

"Alright, send me the coordinates," the heroine said. "Tell the others that I'm gonna check out a hunch. Maybe it'll be a way to send those two rock-heads back."

"I'm coming with you," Heidi stated.

"How am I not shocked?" SheZow noted with an eye roll. "You're not coming."

"I know this town like the back of my hand," Heidi said. "And something tells me your hurt a lot more than you're letting on. So, like it or not, I'm the only backup you have right now."

The ginger was right in her assessment about SheZow's wounds. What she was trying to hide was a set of deeply bruised ribs. She was pretty sure two or three of them were more than likely cracked. SheZow had no interest in babysitting some woman trying to make a name for herself, but unfortunately, the heroine was pretty sure that this redhead wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"I'm going to regret this," Shezow groaned.

* * *

"I thought we'd be taking your SheCycle?" Heidi asked as the two flew through the air, trying not to look down as she did.

"It was trashed in a fight with Duff Kiligan a week ago, Ratchet's patching it up on Skyward Tower," SheZow explained as she held onto Heidi tightly around the waist before noticing something. "Are you okay, Heidi?"

Heidi was not only trying to keep herself from freaking out over how high she was at the moment, but also trying to hide the blush that was slowly growing on her face. The redhead often didn't think much about gender when it came to who she was attracted to. In her life, she had been attracted to both men and women, but she never really pursued a relationship with either gender, for she was too focused with her work to think about such thing, though there was one person who did strike her fancy. However, she had to admit that being in presence of one of the most powerful women in the world, and being held by her no less, that she was quite turned on by the pink-clad heroine.

"Y-yeah, I'm good," she lied before asking "Hey, I forgot to ask: Where's the Ninja?"

"He's tied up in a fight with The Pack in New York," SheZow answered. "I'm sorry if that upsets you."

"Why would it?" Heidi asked.

"Oh, I thought you and the Ninja use to be a thing," the heroine said, clearly embarrassed by making that assessment. "I'm sorry, I just assumed that you two were to be an item. I always saw you guys together whenever a robot or monster showed up."

"No, I just went whenever the story was," Heidi corrected. "And so did he."

If Heidi was being honest with herself, she did have some attraction to the defender of Norrisville back before he joined the Infinity League. She had attempted to court him a few times in the past, but he would always vanish in a cloud of smoke before she could make her move. Now he was in a relationship with Rena Rouge, so it would be pointless to try anything now with him.

"We're getting close to the source of the energy signature Wade picked up," SheZow mentioned.

Once they arrived at what could very well be the source of what brought the two giants to Norrisville, they saw that it was an old warehouse that was situated just outside the city limits. SheZow then began to descend to the ground before letting go of Heidi once they touched down.

"What are you doing?" Heidi demanded. "I'm coming with you!"

"This is way too dangerous. We don't what's in there," SheZow informed. "You're staying here."

"What? No way!" the young reporter shot back.

"It was a bad idea to bring you this far. I can't take you with me in there," SheZow stated firmly before handing the redhead her communicator. "If you want to help, here, take my communicator. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, call the League. They'll send backup."

At this point, Heidi knew that she wasn't going to win this argument. So, she begrudgingly took the communicator and stood by as she watched SheZow lift off of the ground and took off toward the warehouse, leaving Heidi alone to carry out the heroine's order should that come to it. However, the young reporter knew that even if she could get in touch with the Infinity League, it may be to late to get help to SheZow if anything was afoot in that warehouse. She knew that what she was about to was downright suicidal, but, the way she saw it, she was the only person at the moment who could give any real help to the protector of Megadale. So, once again throwing cation to the wind, she headed in the direction of the warehouse.

* * *

When Heidi finally reached the warehouse, she saw a massive hole in the side, obviously where the pink-clad heroine had made her entrance since she wasn't a hero known for subtly. Upon closer look, she could see a green glow emanating from within the building. Steeling her resolve, Heidi cautiously entered the warehouse and immediately hid behind some old crates. Upon doing so, she got a good look of what exactly was going on within the building. It was there she saw SheZow trading blows with a what looked like a giant man with a brain in his stomach. It took the young girl a moment, but she finally realized who exactly this giant was. From the reports she read of the creature from his attacks on New York, this monster was known as Krang. An alien from a race of the same name that hailed from another universe. He normally plagued the Ninja Turtles in New York City, but it was clear that he was behind Tragg and Granitor's attack on Norrisville.

She glanced over to the side to see a massive machine that had what looked like a dark purple portal, no doubt the place of origin for Krang and the giants. It was then that she noticed that she wasn't the only one who was watching the fight from a hiding spot, for she noticed Hannibal McFist and his right hand man, Viceroy, currently hiding behind some debris as they too watched the fight continue. Now why would one of the richest men in the world be here? Heidi then thought back to a time when the Ninja once accused McFist of being corrupt, saying that he wanted to destroy him and let evil rule Norrisville, but he later retracted that statement. Could what the Ninja have said hold some weight to it?

Heidi's attention then went back to the fight as she felt the entire warehouse shake violently. Currently, SheZow was flying off of the ground as she threw punch after punch at Krang's android body with everything she had. The heroine was then swatted out of the air and slammed hard into the ground. She quickly dodged an oncoming foot before letting out a sonic scream that made Krang stumble backwards. SheZow then kept up her attack by taking out one of her tools from her utility belt and activating it. It was her laser lipstick, which acted as a a type of energy sword. She then leaped into the air, ready to bring her blade down on Krang's robot body, but the brain-like alien reached out and took hold of the heroine's wrist and delivered a devastating punch to her stomach before throwing her back to the ground.

"You were a fool to come here alone!" Krang mocked with a wicked laugh. "Soon my army of Rock Men will come through the portal and no one will be able to stop me! ***gurgle*** "

"You...won't...win," the heroine wheezed as she tried to get back on her feet, only for Krang to stomp on SheZow to keep her down.

Heidi covered her mouth as she gasped in shock at the sight before her. It was then that she noticed a large wrench laying next to her. For a brief moment, she considered picking up the wrench and running to SheZow's aid until her common sense kicked in and reminded her that she would be killed the second she stepped out of her hiding place and into Krang's line of sight. So, rather than getting herself killed, she did the sensible thing and took out SheZow's communicator before immediately calling Skyward Tower.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me?" she asked.

"This is Sheila, now who are you?" the Tower's A.I replied. "Where is SheZow?"

"She's being attacked by Krang!" Heidi quickly explained. "He's the one who brought those monsters to Norrisville! Please, you have to send someone now! He's killing her!"

Suddenly, the crates that Heidi was hiding behind were suddenly knocked away. She looked up in shock to see Krang towering over her. The brain-like alien brought his android body's fist down on the young reporter, who quickly grabbed the wrench before jumping out of the way.

"Well, well...what do have we _**here?**_ " Krang gargled out. "Someone looking to play hero?"

Before Krang could throw another punch, SheZow suddenly flew up, grabbed Krang's arm and held him long enough for Heidi to make a run for it. The alien warlord yanked the heroine off his person before slamming her to the ground again. Heidi ran over to what looked like the control panel of the portal and raised the wrench over it, but before she could bring it down, she was suddenly snatched up by Krang.

"You little fool, did you really think you could stop me? ***gurgle*** " Krang said with a mocking laugh. "You don't have any powers!"

"Yeah, but I have a wrench," Heidi quipped before throwing her weapon and the brain alien's face.

The wrench struck Krang in the eye, making him cry out pain as he dropped her. As Krang stumbled around the warehouse in agony, he was suddenly struck by a blast of magical energy. Heidi turned around to see three Infinity League members, Star Butterfly, the Black Power Ranger and the G.I. Joe known as Roadblock, all standing at the entrance SheZow made earlier. Blinded by his own rage, Krang let out a furious cry as he lunged at the the band of heroes, who were now joined by SheZow. Together, the four heroes unleashed a torrent of firepower and began to push Krang back toward the portal before knocking him back to Dimension X. Seizing the opportunity, Heidi grabbed the wrench once again and began to smash the control panel, shutting off the gateway.

"You guys took your time," SheZow joked to her teammates.

"Teleportation traffic was backed up," Roadblock said with a laugh. "You look like shit, by the way."

"Well, going a few rounds with a brain alien will do that to you," the pink-clad heroine replied.

"Just got a word from Jenny, she says Tragg and Graintor vanished," the Black Ranger spoke up. "Must have been pulled back into Dimension X when the portal was destroyed."

It was then that Star noticed Heidi, who was still standing by the control panel she destroyed.

"Ooh, Shezow, whose your friend?" the Mewman princess asked.

"Someone who doesn't listen to orders," the heroine said. "But I'm going to let it slide for once."

"I'm Heidi," the redhead introduced. "I'm trying to be a reporter for the League."

"Well, I'd say that this was an impressive resume," Roadblock said.

"Now then..." SheZow noted as she focused her attention on McFist and Viceroy, who were still hiding. "Let's have a little chat, Mr. McFist."

The billionaire and his top scientist slowly stepped out of their hiding spot and approached the group of heroes.

"Thank God you came when you did!" Hannibal thanked them. "Krang was going to kill us if you hadn't have gotten here when you did!"

"Which begs the question: What was Krang doing here in the first place?" SheZow questioned suspiciously. "And more importantly: What were you two doing here with him?"

"We were testing out a new machine that would've given Norrisville a new form of renewable energy by tapping into the energy of another dimension," Viceroy explained.

"And that dimension you just happened to tap into was Dimension X?" Shezow said in an unconvinced tone. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were purposefully working with him."

"You could say that," McFist agreed with a dark grin. "But, then again, there's a difference between knowing something and having the evidence to prove it."

SheZow narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists in anger, but as much as the secretly male hero wanted nothing more than to drag the two villains straight to jail for allowing this disaster to happen, McFist was right. Before his anger got the better of him, SheZow walked away from the billionaire and allowed McFist and his right hand man to walk away from the scene. The pink-clad heroine then walked back to Heidi, who was still in awe of the heroes before her.

"You did great, Heidi," he began. "But from now on, keep the stupid stunts to a minimal, okay?"

"Noted," Heidi agreed. "I've got no intention of doing that again."

"Come on, I'll take you back home" SheZow offered.

And with that, Heidi was one again the arms of the heroine as the flew out into the skies again. Meanwhile, the Black Ranger heard the chime of his personal communicator, one that was to be used only by the Power Rangers.

"Excuse me," he said to Star and Roadblock.

He then quickly went off to another room in the warehouse to activate his communicator.

"Adam here," he said.

"Adam, we need you back in Angel Grove, ASAP," the voice of Tommy responded from the other side.

Adam could practically feel the dread eminating from his friend's voice just by listening too it, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer of the question he was about to ask.

"Tommy, what's wrong?"

"...Lokar's back." **[2]**

* * *

The flight back to Heidi was a quiet one for the two. After showing Shezow the way to her house, Heidi inwardly cursed herself for doing something so stupid. True, she wanted to help the League, and she got lucky this time, but would she be so lucky next time? And that was under the assumption that there was to be a next time. There was also the matter that she may not see SheZow again afterward, someone she had grown quite an attachment to in the short time they had since they had met. Granted, she knew they hadn't done much together, but after seeing how SheZow threw herself again and again into harm's way for her made her feel like she wanted to get closer to the heroine.

Finally, the two reached the Weinerman home. Shezow floated downward and released her hold on the redhead. It was in that moment that Heidi decided that it was now or never.

"Uh, hey, so..." she began sheepishly. "I was wondering if we could get together sometime. That is, I mean, if you aren't too busy that is."

"You mean...like a date?" SheZow surmised slowly.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to assume anything!" the young reporter. "I didn't know if you were...into girls."

"No, it's okay," the heroine assured. "I'd love to. I'm free next Tuesday if you wanna go do something."

"I'd like that," Heidi agreed.

"And listen, I'm gonna talk to Kelly when I get back to the Tower," SheZow added. "Maybe I can convince her to reconsider hiring you."

"Really? You mean that?" Heidi asked before hugging the woman. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"No problem," SheZow assured as she parted from the hug in order to keep Heidi from discovering the secret that was under her skirt. "It's the least I can do for you."

"Well, in that case, I'll see you next Tuesday then?" the ginger affirmed.

"It's a date" SheZow confirmed with a wink.

With a bright smile and blush, SheZow rocketed back into the sky, all the while cheering as she did. Heidi was on Cloud 9 at this point. She felt like she was walking on air as she entered her house where she found her brother right where she left him: Sitting on the couch eating chips.

"Hey, Heidi," he greeted as he kept his focus on the horror movie he was watching. "How was your day?"

"I helped save Norrisville and got a date with SheZow," his elder sister replied.

"Neat," Howard answered simply. "I got kidnapped by a monster and got my soul bonded to a transsexual grim reaper."

"That's nice," Heidi disregarded before registering what he just said. "...Wait, what?!"

"It's better that I show you" Howard said "Just don't freak out, okay?"

Heidi's younger brother's eyes suddenly changed from brown to bright green as his teeth became long and dagger-like, like a shark's mouth. He then ran his fingers though his hair, which became longer as he did. His body grew taller and slimmed down as his clothing morphed into a red and black Victorian-era attire with a long red trench coat and black high heels. A red chainsaw materialized next to the being that now stood where Howard once did, who cackled madly as he did.

"Hello, deary," the newcomer greeted with a wicked smile. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Grell Sutcliff. Grim Reaper extraordinaire and Jack the Ripper himself!"

Heidi did the most logical thing anyone would do in this situation: faint.

* * *

 **[1] - Wild Katt is Odd's superhero persona. Not sure if we established that yet, so I thought this was warranted.**

 **[2] - This will come into play in a Spotlight that will be after the next one.**

 **[3] - To be continued in the next Spotlight.**

 ** _Bold Italics = Krang gurgling the word or words._**


	9. Howard Weinerman

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Howard Weinerman: Keeping up with The Weinermans: Part Two

* * *

The massive headache that Howard was currently feeling was what woke him up. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he was hanging upside down from a tree out in the middle of the forest. He then noticed that below him was a man who was currently drawing a circle that was made up of strange symbols. The man was dressed in a grey suit, had long black hair and had on dark sunglasses. Now normally, someone in Howard's position would be horrified beyond all rational thought, but the heavyset ginger had been in similar situations before, so to him, this was just another Wednesday.

"Hey, Creeper McPervert," he called out to the man below him. "Are you gonna be done soon? Because I got a Stab movie marathon and big bag of chips to get back to."

The man looked up at his victim with a confused look on his face. He expected his prisoner to be frightened by his his captor, not annoyed. But Howard Weinerman had been kidnapped by evil billionaires, monsters, robots and even a living skeleton on Halloween night, most of which was in part caused by the fact that his best friend, Randy Cunningham, was in fact the Ninja of Norrisville.

"Silence, child!" the man warned. "Or I shall rip your tongue from your mouth!"

"Yeah, I don't think you will," Howard rebuked. "I'm gonna go out on limb here and guess that you need me in one piece for whatever you're doing with that circle you're making."

"You seem quite calm for someone in your position," the man replied.

"You'd be surprised how often this happens," the heavyset teen informed. "So, can we hurry this up? I got places not to be and an ass that needs planting on a sofa."

"The only place you're going to is the afterlife," his captor declared. "But know that your sacrifice will bring about a glorious new world!"

'Oh, good, he's one of those villains,' Howard thought to himself with an eye-roll before speaking. "Just so you know, I'm friends with the Ninja."

"You mean the same Ninja who's currently in New York?" the man asked with a sly smirk.

"Oh...right," the ginger realized.

"Fear not, child, for you shall-" the man attempted to say.

"Bring about a new world order, yeah, I heard you the first time," Howard cut him off. "So, what's your gimmick anyway? You gonna turn me into a demon? Or summon some god-like being onto Earth?"

"I plan to summon a reaper from the underworld and bargain your life in exchange for that of my mistress, the glorious Queen Beryl!" his captor proclaimed.

While that name held no real meaning to Howard, it was once a name that inspired great fear. Queen Beryl was once an enemy to the Sailor Senshi of Japan, who wanted their life force for her master, Queen Metalia, and while they were both defeated, the cost for the Senshi's victory was high.

"Wait, so you're gonna use me to bargain with Death for a queen?" Howard asked. "Dude, I gotta say that is a piss-poor trade. I mean, I might be worth at least a baron, maybe even a duke with some haggling, but I am soooo not worth the soul of a queen!"

"Silence!" the man commanded. "The reaper will either take my offering or he shall face destruction!"

Just then, the circle of symbols began to glow a dark shade of purple before it created a violet barrier as something began to rise up from the ground. At first, Howard assumed that it was a woman, before he noticed that this 'woman' had some male features to her. The stranger had long red hair that ran all the way down his back and bright green eyes that were covered by a pair of red glasses. His skin was pale white, like that of a porcelain doll. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt with a black vest over it and a long red coat over that in addition. He also wore a large black and white pinstriped bow-tie over his neck. His pants were black, as well as the high heeled shoes he wore. But the biggest thing that caught the heavyset teen's attention was the cherry red chainsaw the transgender man had clutched in his hands.

This was obviously who the man was trying to summon, but Howard was confused. When he pictured seeing the Grim Reaper, he thought of a skeleton dressed in a black robe and a large scythe. Not some reject from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The red-dressed reaper shouted several obscenities as he furiously slashed at the barrier with his chainsaw, baring his long, shark-like teeth as he did.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the reaper demanded in a British accent. "You dare summon to me just out of the blue?! There are protocols, you bastard!"

"Hear me, reaper!" Howard's captor bean. "My name is Ralak, and I give the soul of this boy to reap in exchange for the return of my mistress, Queen Beryl!"

The reaper stopped his assault on the barrier to give his captor a confused look. He then looked up at Howard, who gave him a shrug, then back to the man, then back to Howard, then again back the man. After a few seconds, the red-dressed reaper burst into a fit of laughter, which only angered Ralak.

"Are you stupid?" the reaper said as he continued to laugh. "You don't really think I'd take that fatty in the tree in exchange someone like Queen Beryl?"

"That's what I said!" Howard agreed, who was starting to laugh at Ralak's scheme as well.

"Besides, I don't have that kind of authorization to pull off such a resurrection," the reaper explained. "Even if I could bring Beryl back from the dead, my boss would have my ass for breakfast!"

What most people didn't know was that the grim reapers of the afterlife were set up as a sort of a business. They would deiced on who, how and when a person would die. Above all else, bringing someone back was forbidden, for what was dead was meant to stay dead.

"You will take my offer, reaper!" Ralak exclaimed. "That barrier will slowly sap you of your life force, and, unlike the creatures you reap, you shall become nothing!"

The reaper then began to feel his weapon grow heavy as he his strength began to leave him. Soon enough, the red-dressed reaper fell to his knees as his whole body began to grow weaker.

"Hey, so, can I go now?" Howard inquired.

In a fit of rage, Ralak slashed the rope holding Howard and let him fall into the circle with the reaper. The moment Howard fell in, he began to instantly feel the effects of the circle's life draining abilities. The reaper probably lasted longer since he wasn't human, but that wasn't the case for Howard, who was alredy growing weaker by the second.

"Boy..." the reaper wheezed to Howard. "There may be way we can free ourselves and escape this trap."

"How?" Howard replied.

"There is a forbidden technique among reapers to which we can bond with a mortal's soul," the red-dressed killer explained.

"And we're going to abuse that?"

"Oh, maliciously."

"Bitch'in! How we do it?"

"First, place your hand on me."

Howard reached out with his remaining strength and placed his hand on the reaper's chest.

"No, lower" the reaper corrected.

Howard's hand went lower.

"A little lower."

Howard moved his hand further downward.

"Just a bit more"

His hand went to the reaper's pants.

"Now, call me daddy."

"What?" the heavyset teen questioned before realizing what the reaper was really up to. "Ew!"

"Okay, okay, for real this time," the reaper admitted as he held out his hand. "Just give me your hand and say the following: Grell Sutcliff, I give you permission to share my soul."

At first, Howard reached out and was about to take the reaper's hand before pulling back. He had no idea what he would be getting into once he entered this bond with this creature. Was this a trick? Would he still be himself after all this? The ginger wasn't sure, but as he felt more and more of his life force being drained from him, he had no other option. So, against his better judgement, he tentatively reached out and took the reaper's black gloved hand.

"Grell Sutcliff..." he began slowly. "...I give you permission to share my soul."

There was a bright, blinding light that engulfed the two. Ralak hissed in pain as he as shielded his eyes from the light. When the light finally dissipated, Grell stood alone, looking back to his former self and wearing a sinister smile on his face. He picked up his death-scythe chainsaw and revved it up. With a single slash of his weapon, the red-clad reaper destroyed the barrier that had imprisoned him.

"How is this possible?!" Ralak cried out in shock. "That barrier was meant to hold you!"

"It was, but you see, I've gotten myself a bit of a power boost from my new, chubby little friend," Grell explained. "His soul is giving me the kick I needed to break out of your trap. And, more importantly, the extra strength I need to kill your ass!"

"I shall not be bested by the likes of you!" Ralk snarled back defiantly. "If you will not fulfill my wish, then you shall die screaming!"

Ralak's human skin began to peel away as his body began to expand. As it did, his true self was revealed to be a large, dragon-like humanoid. He had a pair of large yellow wings on his back, long razor-sharp claws and horns atop his head. Ralak released a powerful roar to try and scare Grell, but the reaper merely smirked at the threat display.

"Just so you know, big boy..." Grell said as he revved up his chainsaw. "I like it rough."

The man dragon roared before flying forward toward Grell. He dodged the oncoming swipe of the monster's claws before swinging his chainsaw at the beast, who narrowly dodged the attack. Grell kept up the attack by headbutting his opponent in the face, making him stumble backwards from the strike. Ralak retaliated by lunging at his opponent yet again, this time slashing his claws madly at the reaper, who easily evaded attacks with ease. Once Grell saw his opening, he kicked Ralak in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a nearby tree. The man-dragon barley had a chance to recover from the hit when he saw Grell rushing toward him with his chainsaw pointed straight at him. Ralak managed to narrowly the blade, which cut the tree he had run into in half in a matter of seconds.

The servant of Beryl lashed out with a punch that managed to strike the reaper across the jaw. The soul-collecting creature may have looked fragile, but his skin was hard as stone. Ralak could feel his knuckles bruise from the hit, which only made Grell stumble off balance for a moment. Grell smiled before letting out a mad laugh as he lunged forward for another attack. Ralak ducked underneath the chainsaw's blade before uppercutting the reaper, knocking him flat on his back. Seizing his chance, Ralak knocked the chainsaw away climbed atop of Grell.

"Oh, like to be on top I see?" Grell teased.

"Stop talking!" Ralak snarled.

He then reached down and put his claws around the reaper's throat. As the man-dragon put a tighter grip on Grell's thoat, the red-clad madman began to try to rasp out a word.

"Any last words?" the servant of Beryl asked.

"H...harder, daddy," Grell wheezed out.

In a flash, Grell broke free from Ralak's hold and kicked him off his person. To keep him from escaping, he stomped on the man-dragon's leg, breaking it on contact. He then reach down and tore Ralak's wings off with his bare hands before tossing them aside. As the man-dragon roared out in pain, Grell went over to where his chainsaw had fallen and picked it up, revving his death scythe as he did.

"Well, that was fun, but you finished far too soon," Grell said. "Just like most of the men in my life."

He then plunged his chainsaw into Ralak's torso, making the monster scream out in agony as the blade began to move upward until he was cut in two. As the blood flowed out the creature's body like a fountain, Grell couldn't help but laugh at his handiwork. It felt good to kill again.

* * *

"And that's what happened," Howard finished.

It had been hours since Grell had managed to kill Ralak. Since then, Howard had managed to make his sister faint from the sight of his transformation and was now talking to his best friend, Randy, AKA, the Ninja, on a rooftop late at night. Grell was back in Howard's head for the time being as part of the soul bond they now shared.

"So, let me get this straight," the Ninja gathered. "Some crazy lizard guy wanted to sacrifice you to a transgender grim reaper so he could bring his evil queen back, but instead you merged with said transgender grim reaper and killed the lizard guy. Then you showed Heidi that you were now fused to this guy despite knowing that she might spill your secret to everyone in the city."

"Pretty much, yeah," Howard confirmed simply. "To be fair, Heidi can't exactly tell anyone about me and Grell without looking crazy."

"Good point," Randy noted. "But can you trust this Grell guy? He sounds like a total wacko to me."

"Oh, he is out of his goddamn mind," Howard assured. "All he thinks about is killing things and having sex with guys atop a pile of dead bodies, usually in that order. But neither of us had a choice in the matter, and now were stuck together."

"So, how exactly does this whole 'soul bond' work?" Randy inquired. "You gotta say his name to become him or something like Shazam?"

"Nah, I just let him out at will," Howard explained. "But he can only stay out for a few hours before he has to go back into my head to recharge. He's kinda like a parasite who lives off my soul."

"And what happens if one of you dies?" Randy asked curiously.

"...You know, I'm not sure," his friend admitted. "I imagine nothing good."

"So, you just fused with this nutjob and you didn't bother to ask questions like that?" Randy scolded. "How am I not shocked?"

"I was dying!" Howard defended. "I didn't exactly have time to play Twenty Questions!"

"So, what are you going to do now?" Randy questioned.

"No idea," Howard said simply.

It was then that Randy had an idea for what Howard could do with the creature that now was a part of him.

"What if you used Grell to do some good," he suggested.

"Like how?" Howard inquired.

"Listen, if today was any indication, I can't be in Norrisville as much as I once was these days," the Ninja explained. "But you and Grell can protect the city whenever I'm not around."

"Yeah, I don't think Grell's the hero type," his best friend noted. "In fact, I can hear him laughing at the idea in my head right now."

"But maybe he can change his perspective," Randy reasoned. "If he had someone guiding him."

Howard stared in disbelief at that statement for several seconds before busting out in a fit of laughter.

"Are you serious?" the heavyset teen laughed out. "You know as much as I do that I am not a good role model."

"Maybe, but you're not the worst influence either," the masked hero cited. "Maybe you can direct Grell. Make him at least go after the bad guys."

"Something tells me that you'd also want him not to kill said bad guys?" Howard surmised.

"That'd be nice," Randy confirmed.

"Yeah, there is no way he's gonna go for tha,t" Howard assured. "Telling this dude not to kill something is like telling a guy not to stare at a hot chick. It can't be done."

"I know it'll be tough, but maybe you can change his mind," Randy said. "So, what do you say bud? You think you two can be heroes?"

It was in that moment that Howard knew what kind of hero that he and Grell could be.

* * *

Two Weeks Later...

The sound of a window breaking cut through the silence of the night. The broken window in question was that of Greg's Game Hole, which was currently being broken into by pair of masked thieves. They had been robbing the arcade for a few days now, and while it may be odd to rob an arcade instead of something more lucrative such as a bank or a jewelry store, the thieves discovered that Greg had been making a pretty penny for himself, and he had a lackluster security system. After stuffing there bags full of the money they found in a hidden safe, the pair of thieves had also decided to steal one of the arcade cabinets to make a few extra dollars on the side.

Just as the two men were about to put the cabinet in the back of their pick-up truck, a tall, red-dressed figure came down from the rooftops above and landed atop the roof of truck, crushing it upon impact with his feet.

"Well, hello boys," the stranger greeted. "Having yourself a little five finger discount, I see?"

"Who the fuck are you?" one of the thieves demanded.

"Who, me?" the stranger inquired with a fake innocent tone. "Why, I'm your friendly neighborhood homicidal reaper."

With that, Grell revved up his chainsaw and dove toward the two men, who screamed in horror at the sight before them. Neither Howard, nor Grell could ever be heroes like Randy was, but together, they would be Norrisville's lethal protectors.


	10. King Ghidorah

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for this being inactive for a while, but to make up for it, we have the next three Spotlights ready to go for you guys and they'll be coming out one day at a time, starting with the first of two villain-centric Spotlights.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

King Ghidorah: The One Who Is Many

* * *

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

-Peter 5:8

* * *

Those that foolishly remained on the Gem outpose located on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, despite learning of HIS impending arrival, never stood a chance. Amidst the rubble of decamated machinations of war and devastated kindergartens, one Amethyst soldier crawled through the graveyard of scrap and shards of her fellow Gems, barely able to keep her form due to the cracks her gemstone had sustained. She then noticed that a massive shadow loomed over her and looked up to see her soon-to-be harbinger of doom standing dominant a few miles away.

Even from this distance, the sheer size of the creature was not to be taken lightly. It stood at almost four hundred feet tall as lightning continued to strike in the skies above, putting fear in even the bravest and most courageous of hearts. The monster's three heads looked down at his now claimed territory, noticing the faint movements of the soldier as its impressive wingspan started to ignite with electricity. The Amethyst gasped in horror and derpirately tried to crawl to anything she could even remptely classify as shelter, only for her attempts to cease as she cried out in anguish. The result of another crack forming on her gem.

It was surely the end. Soon she would join her sisters in oblivion, and there was nothing she could do about it.

The three mouths of the beast began to spark as the soldier practically started to hyperventilate in fright. Three bolts of lightning then shot out, making their mark in a mere milisecond, obliterating her gemstone and causing her body to fade from existance. When the smoke cleared, dust was all that was left of the soldier's gem.

Victorious in his efforts to claim this moon as his own, the titanic terror let out a shreiking roar into the skies as lightning continuied to aggresively strike behind him. None could dare to oppose him. All that tried would eventually fall, revealing themselves as the fools they truly were. The monster was then about to depart back into the cosmos to claim more of this galaxy as his kingdom, when he stopped.

A disturbance.

One that emitted a great deal of cosmic energies.

And it was coming from the one planet he had yet to claim despite his efforts.

Earth.

He knew, however, that this could not have come from his accursed rival of that world. No. This was different. Perhaps new competition? A new challenger to his position as the Emperor of the Cosmos?

Unacceptable.

And with that, a new destination was made. The beast would go to Earth and slay this being he has sensed and any and all who dared to stand in his way.

They and this challenger would find themselves in the court of King Ghidorah.

* * *

As Optimus slowly struggled to get back on his feet, he looked upward at the now darkened skies of Angel Grove, as well as the nefarious force that threatened the home of the Power Rangers.

Thirty minutes ago, the leader of the Autobots had returned to Skyward Tower after a rather lengthy meeting with the Russian Prime Minister, hoping that he had defused any tensions after the Ninja of Norrisville's comments regarding the civil war in Ukraine. **[1]** A mere five minutes after stepping off the teleporter, however, he received a distress call from the Red Ranger, requesting reinforcements to assist in combating an old foe of their's. He agreed to head to Angel Grove at once, as well as forwarding the signal the Rangers had sent to Danny Phantom, XJ-9 and others for backup.

The instant they arrived, they were greeted by half of downtown Angel Grove in near ruins and the Thunder Megazord struggling to get back on its massive feet. However, it was what caused this devestation that shocked Optimus and the others the most. Before them was what could only be described as a giant, demonic, ethereal, floating blue head, laying waste to both the city and its mighty protectors.

"Okay, I'll bite, when did MODOK get into some kind of edgy, goth phase I wasn't aware of?" Danny mocked.

"Rangers, what are we dealing with?" a still visibly taken aback Optimus asked via his COMM-link.

"That would be Lokar," the Blue Ranger answered on the other side. "He's an intergalactic wizard that resides in the Talos Dimension."

"We've only fought this creep twice, but he's serious bad news," the Pink Ranger added. "We couldn't even destroy him with the Dino Ultrazord when we fought him the first time."

"Is the Megazord still functional?" Jenny asked.

"Barely," the Yellow Ranger answered. "We're struggling just to get it back on its feet."

"Do not worry, my friends," Optimus reassured. "Help is on the way."

Before any of the Rangers could question just what the leader of the Autobots meant by that, they suddenly heard the sounds of a powerful energy blast coming from the west.

"Take cover!" the Red Ranger commanded.

The Thunder Megazord instantly lowered itself to allow the blast to hit its true target: Lokar. It hit its mark as the wizard was far too busy demolishing all in his path and relishing in the tiny humans running for their lives like ants, causing him to cry out in pain and reel backwards. The interdimensional villain turned with a scowl to try and get a good look at his attacker while the Rangers' Megazord turned in the same direction to witness their savior: The massive Autobot superweapon known as Omega Supreme.

"TARGET: SIGHTED," the titanic Autobot bellowed as his giant arm cannon started to charge once more. "OFFENSIVE: RECCOMENCING."

"Do you believe your giant machine can be a match for me?" Lokar boasted. "I shall crush him as I did the Power Rangers!"

Omega Supreme unleashed a barrage of laser and rocket fire at the Lord of the Talos Dimension, however the Autobot's assault was proven ineffective as not a single shot touched Lokar, for he had placed a magical barrier in front of himself to protect him from such attacks. Attempting a different approach, the Autobot superweapon swung one of his mighty fists at the massive head, only for Lokar's eyes to fire a blast of energy at him, causing Omega Supreme to stumble backwards before collapsing onto some buildings.

"Omega!" Optimus exclaimed in shock.

"He just dropped Omega with one hit!" Danny shouted in disbelief .

The leader of the Autobots quickly rushed over to his giant comrade's side. Omega had been put into stasis from the hit, but thankfully he was alive. While this was going on, Jenny and Danny flew upwards to Lokar to face him themselves despite knowing that they had less chance of harming the dark wizard. Danny fired a series of Ecto blasts while Jenny unloaded her strongest lasers at the giant head, all the while they weaved about in the air as they evaded Lokar's energy attacks. However, much like Omega, their attacks proved ineffective against such an imposing opponent.

Seeing that their separate attacks were unable to do much harm to the cosmic cretin, the two teen heroes decided that it was time to combine their efforts. Danny flew behind Jenny, who was opening her back up while her arms combined into a massive cannon. With everything he had, the half-ghost hero fired an ecto-blast into the opening in XJ-9's back. The ghostly power was converting into a stronger energy that Jenny fired outward through the cannon she created as a more amplified form of Danny's ectoplasm at Lokar's face.

While the beam was powerful enough to bring down most opponents, Lokar was hardly fazed by the attack. Lokar let out an inhuman roar as wild bolts of black lightning shot out of his mouth, striking them both dead on. Jenny and Danny let out a cry of agony before they began to fall out of the sky. However, rather than die upon impact with the ground below, they were rescued by the timely intervention of Jetfire, who had managed to swoop in and snatch up the two heroes in his cargo bay.

"Ugh, thanks for the save, Jetfire," Danny said in a groggy tone.

"Yeah, I thought we'd end up as street pizza," Jenny added weakly.

"No problem, guys. I'm just glad you two are still breathing after taking a hit like that," the aerial Autobot replied. "This Lokar guy is some serious business!"

"I don't know what's going to stop him at this point," the half-ghost admitted.

"Maybe we can," came a voice.

Danny and Jenny turned to see that they weren't alone in the cargo bay. Standing before them were Garnet and the rest of the Crystal Gems, save for Steven, who was still benched from the League. **[2]** There weren't alone either, for alongside the Gems was the mighty android known as Jet Jaguar, who had recently returned alongside several heroes from an adventure across time. **[3]**

"You guys ready?" Jetfire asked the group.

"Ready" Garnet confirmed.

"Oh yeah, let's go kick this dude's fat head in!" Amethyst agreed.

Jetfire then opened the cargo bay door, allowing the Gems and Jet Jaguar to jump out of the Autobot and down toward the ground. As they fell, the android began to grow in size while the Crystal Gems began to fuse together to form the massive fusion known as Alexandrite. By the time they touched down with the ground, a pair of new titans stood before the Lord of the Talos Dimension. By this time, Omega Supreme had come out of stasis and stood back on his feet to once again face off with the dark lord.

"Fools!" Lokar proclaimed with a wicked cackle. "You think you three can stand against my power?"

"You miscounted, Lokar," Alexandrite corrected. "Because we have a friend who's a little late to the party."

As if on cue, another giant arrived on the scene. This was titan made of steel, but was not an Autobot like Omega Supreme. It was the Powerpuff Girls' Dynamic Nanotechtronic Monobot. AKA: The Powerpuff Dynamo. A massive mech that was designed by Professor Utonium to assist the Powerpuff Girls against foes as powerful as Lokar.

"Sorry we're late," Blossom said through the mech's intercom. "We had to dust off the Dynamo before taking her out again."

"It won't matter how many you send against me, you are all no match for my power!" Lokar proclaimed.

"I've had enough of this jerk!" Buttercup said. "Let's show this fat-head how we do things back in Townsville!"

Omega and the Dynamo unleashed a combined volley of missiles at the giant head, which were destroyed upon impact with another barrier Lokar created. However, while he was distracted by the the machines' attacks, Alexandrite and Jet Jaguar dashed to flank both sides of the warlock before reaching out with their fists at the ready. But before they could even touch him, Lokar unleashed a a magical sphere around himself that knocked the two giants back. Jet Jaguar was the first to correct himself and charged once more at the the the Lord of the Talos Dimension.

Acting quickly, Alexandrite summoned Sardoynx's warhammer before tossing it over to the android. With his weapon in hand, Jet Jaguar leaped into the air with the hammer raised high over his head. But when the android struck his weapon, he only hit the barrier once more which knocked him back with little effort. Alexandrite then created Opal's bow before taking aim at Lokar and letting loose a flurry of energy arrows. Lokar let out another energy wave that caused the arrows to dissipate before they could hit him.

Lokar then unleashed a blast from his eye beams that knocked the Fusion into a nearby building. Once Alexandrite was down, the warlock turned his attention toward Omega and the Dynamo. The girls activated the Dynamo's rockets and changed at the dark wizard with their weapons at the ready. But before they could even touch him, Lokar suddenly lifted both the Dynamo and Omega off of the ground with his mental abilities before throwing them both off across the city into a nearby factory. The force of the impact knocked the already weakened Omega back into stasis while the Powerpuff Girls were also knocked unconscious. With his enemies laid low before him, Lokar let out a deep cackle, knowing that he was victorious.

"Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?" Danny sad in total shock.

* * *

Back on Skyward Tower, the other heroes watched the monitors and holo-screens in horror as their friends and teammates were being beaten down by Lokar's onslaught. With most of the big guns already on the scene and seemingly useless against the otherworldly being, it left those who were told to stay behind left to wonder: if the first line of defense failed, then could they fair any better? There was already talk among the League members if they should try to teleport down to Angel Grove and assist their comrades in the battle against the Lord of Talos or if they should stay back and wait for further orders.

"We have to do something," Sashi said to the others.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do, Sashi," Duke reminded her.

"Duke's right, we'd just get slaughtered if we get set down there," Dipper added on.

"Are you not seeing what's happening down there?" Sashi said sharply. "They're getting killed!"

"And we'd be no different if we went to try and help them," Dipper said. "A lot of us don't have the powers like the Rangers and the others do, and even they aren't doing much to stop Lokar!"

"I always knew you were a pussy, Pines," Sashi sneered in his face. "I just didn't think you'd ditch your friends too."

Mason and Sashi stared down one another with anger in their eyes. Luckily, the leader of the Joes managed to step in before the situation could further escalate.

"Alright, take it easy guys," he advised the younger heroes. "We're all on edge right now, but Mason's right. We'd only get ourselves killed if we tried to assist."

"So, what do we do?" Tigre inquired.

"We wait, for now," Duke answered. "Unless we hear otherwise, we'd only be getting in the way."

Before anyone else could speak, Sheila appeared before the other heroes, which could only mean that the situation in Angel Grove had only become all the more dire.

"Please tell me you have good news, Sheila," Mason began.

"Actuality, it's more of a bad news/worse news kind of thing," the A.I. corrected. "The bad news is that the longer that Lokar remains in our dimension, the more of his cosmic energy will seep into our universe."

"I'm afraid to ask...but what's the worse news?" Duke inquired.

"The worse news is that the energy from Lokar's dimension is creating a sort of signal out into space," Sheila explained. "And someone just answered it!"

Just then, the alarms within the Tower starting to blare as red light flashed throughout the orbital station, alerting the other heroes within the Tower that something was approaching the earth from the depths of the cosmos. Dipper rushed over to the the station's scanners and saw a massive object hurtling through the vastness of space at an alarming speed. It was too fast for a meteor or even most spacecrafts that belong to the alien empires of galaxy, which meant it could be only one thing.

A Kaiju.

Once the data started coming in, a chill went through Mason's spine as he saw which Kaiju was heading toward Earth.

"Oh, God..." he gasped in horror. "It's Ghidorah!"

The other heroes gasped in horror at the very mention of the Kaiju's name. None of the heroes had ever experienced Ghidorah's wrath first hand, but they had seen what the golden terror was capable of from the aftermath of his attack. Since he first revealed himself to the world in 1964, every time he and Godzilla clashed, it left only a untold amount of destruction and death to those who were caught in the wake of their battles. The League was already in a dire situation against Lokar, but if the king of terror were to arrive on the scene, the team would surly perish.

"Sheila, engage the tower's defense system now!" Duke ordered. "That bastard isn't setting a single claw on Earth!"

"Wait!" a pair of tiny voices suddenly pleaded. "You must not battle Ghidorah!"

Everyone was surprise the sudden plea not to open fire on the three-headed monster. Everyone looked around the room to find who had spoken until Mason looked down back at the controls and saw a pair of tiny women dressed in bright, tribal clothing, to which the others soon saw as well. It was the Shobijin, the twin fairies who acted as emissaries to not only the people of the island they resided on, Infant Island, but also spoke on behalf of the benevolent Kaiju known as Mothra.

The heroes were in a collective stunned awe at the sight of the Shobijin. Some even bowed before the twins in respect. Sashi approached the fairies and lowered her hand to allow the twins to climb onto her hand and lift them up for the other League members to get a better view of them.

"Please, you must not fight Ghidorah!" they repeated. "He is the only one who can save the earth!"

"What are you talking about?" Duke questioned. "Ghidorah's tried to destroy the earth more times than I can count! Why would he wanna save the planet now?"

"You must understand, Ghidorah is still a being of great evil, but this is a time when evil can only be defeated by another kind of evil," the twins explained. "Lokar is a threat to Ghidorah as much as he is to the people of Earth."

"I think I get it," Tigre surmised.

"Good, because I don't," Mason noted.

"Ghidorah's like the neighborhood bully on the block, and Lokar is the bigger bully who's trying to move in on his turf," Manny elaborated. "Ghidorah isn't fighting for us, he's fighting to keep his rep."

"Okay, so? We just let Ghidorah and Lokar fight it out and then what?" Mason asked. "I doubt the winner of that fight is going to just up and leave us alone."

"We know it is a risk, but this must happen," the Shobijin pleaded. "If the world is to survive, then Ghidorah must face Lokar."

The League members looked at one another with concern in their eyes. If they let Ghidorah pass them by, they could be allowing an even greater evil set foot onto their world, but if they didn't, then they could condemning their teammates to a painful death at the hands of Lokar. So, difficult as it was, they made their choice.

"Sheila...lower the defenses," Duke ordered slowly. "Let him pass."

As instructed, the A.I. lowered Skyward Tower's defense systems. No sooner as she had done that did Ghidorah fly past the Tower, ignoring it completely as he headed straight toward Angel Grove. The onslaught of lightning bolts sparked around him as he did so, a stray one seemingly hitting the Tower as it rumbled slightly The others could only look on in silence, praying that they had made the right choice.

* * *

As the three-headed horror penetrated the Earth's atmosphere, lightning began to strike sporadically around him as the once white clouds started to turn grey the lower Ghidorah descended and the skies slowly started to turn an almost hellish shade of gold. It was almost as if the heavens above were announcing the king's arrival to this world.

Except it wasn't an announcement...It was a warning.

* * *

Optimus continued to desperately fire his Ion Blaster at Lokar, hoping in vain to find some kind of weak spot on the dark wizard's form, but the closer the cackling villain came to him, the more vain his efforts appeared to be. Behind him was the unconscious bodies of Danny and Jenny, who had taken the blunt of the Lord of Talos' eye beams, despite Jenny's efforts to shield her and her fellow League member. Omega was still in stasis lock, the Powerpuff Girls and Jet Jaguar were also unconscious, and Alexandrite's condition was unknown, as she still hadn't emerged from the pile of rubble she was currently buried under. The Rangers' Megazord was also down given its condition when Prime and the others arrived, and made even worse was that Lokar had telekinetically thrown both the Dynamo and Omega Supreme into the Thunder Megazord for good measure.

"Foolish machine!" Lokar mocked. "Do you really wish to die continuing this pathetic, huberistic attempt to destroy me?"

"You will never be able to claim victory, Lokar!" Optimus declared. "So long as there is one that continues to stand against you! This I am certainly willing to die for!"

"Then die you shall!" the Lord of the Talos Dimension retaliated as his eyes glowed once more, ready to end Prime's futile efforts.

The leader of the Autobots was not one to go down without fighting for the freedom of all sentient beings, so he continued to shoot at the evil wizard, not relenting for even a second...until he noticed something behind Lokar's massive form.

The skies above started to change. Before, they were black as night, but slowly but surely, they changed to a devilishly glowing shade of gold. Lightning ignited throughout the clouds, each crackle revealing a gargantuan silhouette that was approaching the wizard from behind. Optimus narrowed his optics to try and get a good look at said silhouette, and, with the latest crack of lightning revealing a large, three-headed form, he nearly gasped in pure horror.

"By Primus..." he muttered.

By now, Lokar was beginning to sense something was approaching him, so he turned around to see the developments that were currently transpiring up above. It was just in time to see a roaring Ghidorah practically exploding from the clouds, tackling Lokar and grasping him with his three jaws, dragging him through several buildings as he did so. It was at that point that Danny and XJ-9 had awakened, their eyes widening in terror as they briefly caught a glimpse of the three-headed monstrosity.

"Oh no..." was all Jenny could say.

It seemed, also, that most of the other heroes that joined the three leaders had awakened as well, as Prime's COMM-link ignited with the voices of the Crystal Gems, the Powerpuff Girls, the Power Rangers and Jetfire all basically asking the same question.

What is Ghidorah doing here?

It got so bad that Prime was forced to isolate their COMM devices so that he could get to the one on Skyward Tower.

"Mason, what is going on?" he asked, dread practically laced in his voice. "How was Ghidorah able to get past our defenses?"

* * *

"Oh, what do I do?" a pale-skinned Dipper whispered while placing his hand on his COMM-link so Optimus couldn't hear him. "How do I tell him that we just let King fucking Ghidorah past our defenses?"

"Maybe start by NOT ghosting Optimus Prime first of all, dumbass," Sashi answered.

"Bring your device to us," the Shobijin suggested. "We will speak to him."

* * *

"Optimus Prime, we know this situation is most dire, but you must listen to us!"

"Moll? Lora?" a perplexed Optimus questioned, referring to the twins by name, before focusing back on the situation at hand. "What is happening?"

"The energies from Lokar's dimension have attracted Ghidorah to him," the Shobijin explained. "He is going to challenge Lokar to try and prove his superiority to him."

"Wait a minute..." Danny slowly said as he started to put the pieces together. "Guys, please tell me you didn't just let Ghidorah through the front door."

"Hey, look, we all thought it was a bad idea too at first, but hear them out on this one," Manny answered on the other side.

"Lokar has proven to be a formidable foe against your forces," the fairies began. "If you continued to fight, you would have surely perished. The only hope in defeating him may very well lie in Ghidorah."

"Well, if he does beat him, what then?" the Pink Ranger questioned through her COMM-device. "Like, wouldn't he just start trying to burn the whole world to the ground like he always does?"

"We understand that this is a dangerous gamble, but as we have stated, he is the only one currently capable of stopping Lokar," the Shobijin answered.

"They...they might be right, Prime," Blossom suddenly stated, catching everyone else off guard.

"You sure you didn't tie that bow on too tight, Sis?" Buttercup asked.

"That last hit busted the hydrolics on the Dynamo's knees," the commander and leader stated. "We can't get her back on her feet even if we pushed it up. Not to mention, it really doesn't look like the others are in any shape to keep fighting."

"She's not wrong," the Blue Ranger added. "The Thunder Megazord can't take much more of this. Especially with the White Ranger, and by that extension the Tiger Megazord, currently benched for the moment." **[2]**

"Two of us could probably still fuse, but after that fight, I don't think we can assume Alexandrite's form again any time soon," Garnet added.

"LOSS OF POWER: CRITICAL," Omega Supreme bellowed. "DEACTIVATION: LIKELY. CANNOT CONTINUE."

Jet Jaguar then let out a series of mechanical grunts, indicating that his situation was much of the same.

The three leaders of the League reeled all of this in. It seems as though the Shobijin were correct in some way. If Ghidorah hadn't ambushed Lokar, he would have surely finished each and every one of them then and there. Then, not only would Angel Grove have been at his mercy, but, with sixteen League members lost, the world would have likely fallen by his non-existent hands as well. Still, even then, there was the problem of having to deal with the victor, whether that be the dark wizard of Talos or the three-headed terror of the cosmos.

It mostly came down to 'Who would we rather try and fend off?'

"I hate to say it, guys, but I think I like my odds with Ghidorah more than Lokar," Jenny admitted.

"Yeah, but it really wouldn't hurt if we had a bit of backup from G-Force," Danny stated.

"I believe I may be able to arrange that," Optimus said as he activated his COMM-device once more. "Sheila, try and patch me through to Director Yashiro back in Japan."

"Consider it done," the A.I. replied.

"In the meantime, we must put our focus on rescuing the inhabitants of Angel Grove from the impending devastation," Prime continued.

"You're...going through with this?" a shocked Pearl asked.

"We don't have much of a choice in this matter," the Autobot leader answered. "As the Shonijin said, we alone do not stand a chance against Lokar."

He then turned his attention back to the twin fairies on the other side of his COMM.

"Moll, Lora, as difficult of a decision this is, and as big of a risk this is...We will follow through with your advice. However, once I make it through with Director Yashiro, I will have no choice but to ask for assistance. Afterwards, Ghidorah will only have fifteen minutes at most to defeat Lokar."

"Very well then," the Shobijin responded. "We thank you for heeding our words, Optimus Prime."

'Primus, forgive me for what I may have brought upon this city,' Optimus thought to himself, fearing of what would likely happen to Angel Grove thanks to this call he had just made.

Meanwhile, Ghidorah had dragged Lokar halfway across the city at this point before hurdling him into a row of skyscrapers. The dark wizard had managed to correct himself before turning to face his new opponent dead in his six eyes.

"Who are you that would dare challenge the power of Lokar?!" the Lord of the Talow Dimension angrily asked.

In response, the middle head of Ghidorah let out an opposing shriek before the cosmic Kaiju proceeded to spread his wings all while lightning continued to strike in the distance and his necks started to glow, likely as a form of intimidation. However, Lokar simply started to cackle wickedly at this sight, obviously unimpressed.

"I do not know who you are or where you came from, mindless beast, but know this. I will ensure that you will spend your final moments screaming in agony before you die along with the rest of these so called 'heroes!'"

The dark wizard was the first to make a move, shooting an energy beam from his mouth aimed directly at the cosmic terror's middle head, only for all three of Ghidorah's necks to sway out of its path. In retaliation, all three of his mouths shot out three bolts of his dreaded Gravity Beams towards Lokar. Whilst the Lord of Talos managed to put up one of his barriers to protect himself as he had done before, the impact of the beams was clearly much stronger than his previous opponents' ill-faded offensives. He could feel his hold weakening by the second the longer Ghidorah continued his onslaught.

Not being one to relent to any foe, Lokar proceeded to dash quickly and harshly towards Ghidorah's stomach, the impact causing the three-headed monster to stumble into a group of nearby buildings, each of them collapsing in an instant. A sinister chuckle escaped the wizard's lips as his eyes began to light up with energy, only for Ghidorah's right head to swiftly grasp Lokar by his right cheek, followed by his left head biting into his left cheek, before the central head latched his fangs onto the interdimensional tyrant's forehead. The dark Lord of Talos cried out in pain before the cosmic Kaiju lifted him upwards and smashed him down into the ground. Ghidorah's left and center heads relented from Lokar's head, allowing the right head to lift him upwards once again prior to swinging him harshly onto the downtown pavement bellow yet again.

However, when Ghidorah attempted this tactic once more, Lokar suddenly vanished in a cloud of dark smoke. Perplexed, the central head hissed a command to his two conjoined brothers before all three heads observed their surroundings. Then, without warning, ten duplicates of the evil wizard reappeared, surrounding the Kaiju as he started to cackle mockingly once more. Snarling in contempt for his adversary's persistent annoyance, Ghidorah fired his Gravity Beams once more, each of his heads going for separate duplicates, only for them to vanish the second his attacks hit their mark. The three-headed horror then started to turn in a circular motion, intent on firing his beams at every one of them until he hits the real Lokar.

But once he reached the fifth duplicate, the one directly behind him fired his eye beams at his back, causing the Kaiju to screech in pain whilst stumbling forward, his heads, and by that extension his Gravity Beams, moving wildly out of control. One of them had managed to slice through one of the nearby skyscrapers, causing the support beams to instantly buckle as the building began to collapse with hundreds of occupants still inside, having been too frightened to evacuate and be a the mercy of these monsters in the streets bellow.

Fortunately, before the top portion of the building started to crumble, the Powerpuff Girls instantly flew up to it, pushing against the structure to prevent it from falling over. They were then joined by Jet Jaguar as he suddenly grew to around the skyscraper's height and grasped onto it. The stunned onlookers noticed at that moment that Jetfire had hovered upward towards the broken windows in his jet mode, opening a large door at the side of his cargo bay while a bridge extended towards the opening to allow the civilians to board inside him.

"All aboard!" he said.

* * *

"Folks, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this! In all the six months since we created Ranger Station, I can safely say that-"

The sentence spoken was suddenly cut off by two dinging sounds.

"...Skull?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you remember to charge your phone last night?"

"...Nope."

Farkas 'Bulk' Bulkmeier and Eugene 'Skull' Skullovitch, two...less than ideal students from Angel Grove High, were currently on the streets of downtown Angel Grove, reporting live on their blog page 'Ranger Station' about the sudden arrival of King Ghidorah and his confrontation with Lokar...Or at least they were before Skull's phone suddenly died.

"Ugh, here, use mine," Bulk groaned before tossing his smartphone to his friend. "If we wanna get into the League's P.R. department, we can't keep doing stuff like that!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" Skull retorted. "There was a Stab marathon on. What did you want me to do?"

"...It literally takes five se-Never mind," Bulk answered. "Just try and get us live again as quickly as possible."

"Okay, okay!" Skull interjected as he tried to log back onto the Ranger Station. "Bossy, bossy, bo-"

His words were cut off, however, by Ghidorah's roar. He and Bulk turned around just in time to see Lokar headbutt against the space Kaiju's chest, causing the right head to spin to its right just as it let out another Gravity Beam. It then hit the center of the building Bulk and Skull were standing next to, blasting a giant hole right in the middle of it and causing falling concrete, metal and glass to rain down towards the duo. The both of them screamed in fright as they shielded the top of their heads, when a massive, black and purple arm suddenly positioned itself above them, protecting them from the falling debris. Confused, Bulk and Skull looked upward to see Sugilite glaring down at the two of them.

"What're you idiots waiting for?! A written invitation?!" the fusion shouted. "MOVE!"

"...Yes ma'am!" the frightened duo responded before quickly running towards a nearby crowd of civilians being guided towards the nearest shelters by Pearl and the Black, Yellow and Pink Rangers.

"Everybody, over here!" Kimberly directed. "Quickly! Quickly!"

As pandemonium continued to flood the streets, Pearl, Adam, Aisha and Kimberly noticed two children being separated from their parents. The three of them quickly made an attempt to reach them, only for them to notice Ghidorah swinging his left wing towards Lokar, smashing him across the face just as a beam of energy escaped his mouth. The beam made contact about a block away, sending an onslaught of concrete towards the children. Fortunately, right in the nick of time, Danny emerged from a nearby building and grabbed the children, turning the three of them intangible as he did so which caused the rocks to go right through them. The rest of the debris was then shot away from the other civilians by Jenny's arm cannons and Prime's Ion Blaster.

"C'mon, let's go find your parents," the Yellow Ranger said to the two frightened children as she quickly picked them up and dashed back into the crowd.

"Optimus, I've finally been able to make contact with Director Yashiro," Sheila said through Prime's COMM.

"Put her through," Optimus commanded.

" _Optimus Prime,_ " Director Akane Yashiro, the head of G-Force, said on the other line, speaking in her native language after her greeting. " _We have already heard news of Ghidorah's arrival to Angel Grove._ "

" _What are our options, Director?_ " Optimus questioned in Japanese.

" _Unfortunately, we don't have many,_ " Director Yashiro answered. " _Kiryu's currently undergoing a series of upgrades to its piloting mechanisms. All I am allowed to inform you of is that it will soon operate via something we call 'Drifting.' As for our previous Mechagodzilla, the necessary requirements needed to bring it out of retirement would be far too time consuming._ "

" _I see...What about M.O.G.U.E.R.A.?_ "

" _That is where I do have some good news, Optimus. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and the Super-X's have just recently finished warding Destoroyah away from the coast of Indonesia. I've already sent orders for them to make their way to California to offer you and your League assistance against Lokar and Ghidorah._ "

" _How long?_ "

" _The order was given about five minutes ago. I would give them about ten minutes for them to arrive._ "

" _Thank you, Director Yashiro. We will continue with evacuation efforts until your forces arrive._ "

" _Good luck, Optimus._ "

Back with Ghidorah and Lokar's brawl, the evil wizard had started to fire energy beams from both his eyes and his mouth, now desperately trying to find any means to harm this beast that was giving him so much trouble. However, Ghidorah had blocked the offensive by wrapping his massive wings around his body, utilizing it like a shield. Then, the three-headed monster proceeded to spread his wings instantly, creating a massive shockwave that caused the energies Lokar was using to attack Ghidorah to be sent right back at him. The interdimensional warlock yelled out in pain as he was sent crashing to the ground.

Wishing to end his adversary's pitiful efforts, Ghidorah swung his wings downward, launching him upwards into the skies above, the winds from this move exploding with the force of a hurricane, before looking down at his wounded opponent. His necks began to light up once more as electricity sparked from his three mouths, ready to provide the finishing move, when suddenly...

"ENOUGH!" Lokar yelled.

Dark energies practically exploded from the Lord of Talos, catching Ghidorah off guard as the shockwaves caused him to loose focus and fall back down to the ground bellow. As he got back on his feet, his heads turned to where Lokar was, only to see the energies forming something. Slowly, the darkness started to fade away, revealing a full-bodied Lokar that stood just as tall as the space Kaiju he faced against. This new form of Lokar had what appeared to be massive, light-blue spikes for hair, shoulders and knees and had red highlights all across his body.

"I refuse to be beaten by a simple-minded monstrosity like you!" he declared in a much deeper, almost demonic voice. "Now you will die at the hands of...DAI-LOKAR!"

* * *

Back on Skyward Tower, the developments of this confrontation did not go unnoticed by the other heroes of the Infinity League that were still watching this unfold. The number of heroes that were doing so had now grown substantially as more and more learned about what was transpiring on Angel Grove.

"What the hell just happened?!" a shocked Lady Jaye asked.

"I'd say something within the realms of 'shit just hit the fan,'" Dipper answered.

"It appears as though Lokar has emassed enough energy from the Talos Dimension to assume his most powerful form," the Shobijin stated.

"And we're STILL just gonna stand around and let all this happen?" Bismuth questioned. "My friends are still down there in the middle of all that destruction!"

"We understand that this is most distressing, but Ghidorah is still our only hope in stopping Lokar," the Shobijin answered.

"With all due respect...I'm honestly starting to wonder if Ghidorah can even win now," Sailor Mars replied.

"She's got a point," Sashi added. "I've never seen this creep in person, but the Rangers told me he means business, and I don't think even THEY knew he could do that."

"Still, there's really not much we can do," Donatello said as he and Peridot analyzed the teleporters. "Looks like when Ghidorah passed by the Tower, a bolt of lightning hit the mainframe and shut our teleporters down. Peridot and I can get them back up and running, but it'll take a couple of minutes."

"Then it looks like all we can do is hope for the best outcome," Cat Noir stated.

"...What even WOULD be the best outcome in all this?" Ibuki questioned.

"That Ghidorah beats Lokar and just decides to leave us alone," Adrien answered, only for a thought to cross his mind as he did so. "...I just realized that we're actually being forced to root for King Ghidorah here."

"God, it's like I'm watching the Giants go against the Patriots," El Tigre half-remarked. "Only time I'd ever root for the damn Giants."

"I heard that!" Jake suddenly cut in.

* * *

As Dai-Lokar cackled madly whilst black lightning struck around him, Ghidorah did not relent even in the slightest. He had come all this way to slay this challenger to his throne, and he was not going to allow it to be overtaken. So, as he stood tall once more, his wings spread upward, all three of his heads roared defiantly before swinging his wings down again, lifting him to the air before gliding towards his opponent. Dia-Lokar retaliated by charging straight towards him and grabbing Ghidorah's left and right heads. The central head rebutted by lunging towards the wizard's head, only for it to back just out of reach before he smashed the left and right heads into the central head. Disorienting the Kaiju slightly, Dia-Lokar took advantage of this by swinging the three-headed monster by his right head into a row of buildings before tossing him away.

The space Kaiju was able to fly upward to save himself from smashing into a large, nearby hill before snarling in contempt and shooting his Gravity Beams once more. The Lord of Talos reacted by crossing his arms together while shielding himself from this offensive with one of his barriers as dark energies started to build from within his mouth. He then lunged forward, a massive beam of energy detonating out of his mouth towards the multi-headed beast, who immediately strafed to the left to try and avoid it. However, the beam ended up grazing his side before landing its mark on a group of skyscrapers, completely obliterating them the instant it made contact.

Ghidorah's three heads screeched in pain before crashing into a nearby construction sight. Once the dust settled, the beast slowly got back on his feet and looked down to where the beam had grazed him, noticing something that made all six of his eyes widen in shock.

This being that he was fighting...had made him bleed.

A feat that only one other had managed to accomplish.

This blow to his wrathful pride, unfortunately for him, had managed to distract him long enough to allow Dia-Lokar to throw two energy orbs towards his enemy. One of them missed entirely, but the other managed to make its mark right into the right head's neck, decapitating it instantly. The cosmic monster howled in agony once more as the now deceased head smashed into the pavement bellow, allowing Dia-Lokar to tackle him into a skyscraper. As the structure collapsed around them, the Lord of the Talos Dimension forced Ghidorah onto the ground, smashing his now two heads repeatedly, blood splashing against the streets of Angel Grove with every impact.

"Did you really think you had any chance against me?!" the evil wizard boasted. "I am the supreme ruler of the Talos Dimension! You are but an animal!"

He then smashed the left head...

"Arrogant!"

...then the center head...

"Brainless!"

...then the left head again.

"And most of all..."

He then grasped the central head...

"WEAK!"

...and harshly forced it nose-first into the ground.

"And once I am finished with you, I shall lay waste to this entire universe!"

Dai-Lokar then got back on his feet as dark energies started to form inside his mouth once more.

"All will have no choice but to bow before their new king!"

'Their new king.'

Hearing those words...Ghidorah's center head began to growl loudly with unparalleled hatred. If anyone was to lay waste to the universe...if anyone was to become its unchallenged king...

It was going to be him.

The TRUE King of the Monsters.

And with the last ounce of his strength, Ghidorah's central head lunged towards a nearby power station, grasping his fangs into the generators.

"NONE SHALL STAND IN MY WAY!" Dai-Lokar shouted. "NONE SHALL-"

His gloating was interrupted, however, when a series of electrical bolts started to shoot out of Ghidorah's body, forcing him off of his body as every vein in the Kaiju's body started to glow a bright shade of gold.

Far off in the distance, Jenny and Bubbles were busy assisting several more civilians into a shelter (as well as a group of dogs and cats Bubbles rescued from a nearby animal shelter) when they saw Ghidorah slowly rise back onto his feet. They then noticed that all of the lights in the surrounding buildings and lamp posts started to turn off while the three-headed horrors veins glowed brighter and brighter with every second.

It appeared as though he was draining the electricity from the entire city of Angel Grove.

Then, without warning, Ghidorah's wings spread outward as lightning bolts shot out of his wings and into the skies above. The two female heroes noticed Jetfire, Blossom and Buttercup narrowly avoiding the bolts as they shot out. Bubbles could just barely hear Buttercup shouting something in the distance, likely sharing the same collective shock she and Jenny shared. Dai-Lokar was also caught in the crossfire of this surprise attack, only he wasn't quite as lucky as the heroes, as the lightning hit him square in the chest, sending him flying away from Ghidorah. One stray bolt managed to hit the ground nearby Bubbles and XJ-9 and the debris from the impact was sent hurdling towards the duo, only for Sugilite's wrecking ball to smash them before they got the chance.

The now three heroes then noticed something about Ghidorah's now headless right neck. Something appeared to be struggling to get out of the wound as a thick, slimy substance started to ooze from it. What appeared to be a tongue emerged from it, prompting the center head to grasp it by his jaws and pull out a now completely healed right head. The three heroines could only look in shock once more, only now it was joined by a feeling of disgust.

"Did...did you know he could do any of that?" Sugilite asked Jenny.

"Nope," was all the robotic protector of Tremorton could respond with.

"I think I'm going to puke," a nauseous Bubbles added before flying away from her fellow heroines.

Now more enraged and powerful than ever, Ghidorah turned to face Dai-Lokar once more, roaring as he took flight once more before gliding towards his rival. The wizard responded by letting out a roar of his own before unleashing a duo of dark energy blasts from the palms of his hands. The Kaiju reacted in time by swooping upward and narrowing his wings so that he could nose-dive his way to Dia-Lokar, tackling him into an industrial warehouse. The three heads of the beast lunged downward, biting chunks away from the warlock as he punched the heads off of him. The Lord of Talos then kicked Ghidorah off his person before getting back on his feet, grabbing the monster's spiked tail as he did so.

With a mighty swing, he sent the space monster hurdling against several skyscrapers, only for the three-headed terror to flap his wings downward, launching both him and Dai-Lokar to the skies above. This caused the interdimensional wizard to release his grip, however, rather than let him fall, Ghidorah grasped his body with his feet and continued to fly towards the lightning-infested, clouded skies above. The evil warlock desperately tried to free himself by punching the beast's legs, but with every blow he delivered, Ghidorah retaliated by grasping tighter and tighter, eventually causing his sharp toes to puncture through his enemy's skin.

Only once he was at the upper atmosphere did Ghidorah finally release Dai-Lokar, but not before his heads took aim at the falling wizard, his necks glowing a familiar tint. Not wishing to take this trip alone, dark lightning encompassed his palms and mouth before firing three beams of energy towards the cosmic monster, right as his three heads and the tips of his wings fired their Gravity Beams. Both attacks made their targets, causing Dai-Lokar to descend with even greater force than before and for Ghidorah to loose his focus and begin a descent of his own.

Back at the city bellow, Sugilite was busy preventing another building from collapsing as Jetfire finished loading the last of its inhabitants before flying off to the nearest shelter. But just as the fusion was about to allow the structure to collapse, a shadow started to loom around her. Confused, she looked upward and saw both Ghidorah and Dai-Lokar emerging from the clouds, burning a bright orange thanks to their rapid descent, heading right for her.

"...Oh, great," was all she could say.

Before she had any chance to run, the two powerful beings crashed into the ground, fortunately sparing the fusion from a direct hit, but the force of the impact was enough to send her flying into a, thankfully already evacuated, skyscraper, which then started to collapse on top of her.

A massive cloud of dust formed from where the two landed, the League members baring witness to it all, wondering just who managed to come out on top in that struggle. A deafening silence overtook the scene as second after agonizing second passed by with neither being emerging from the two craters they had created.

Then, just as they began to assume that both beings had perished, something started to emerge from where Dai-Lokar had landed. The heroes' hearts nearly stopped in horror as Lokar, in his normal form, floated upward from the crater, dark lightning surrounding him as he cackled madly. It appeared as though the worse of two evils had prevailed.

"Your champion has been slain!" the warlock boasted. "Now this universe belongs to the Lord of the Talos-"

Suddenly, as he continued to gloat, the left and right heads of Ghidorah emerged from the cloud of dust behind Lokar, grasping both of the wizard's massive eyes with their jaws. The League members all had a collective gasp of surprise whilst Lokar started to scream in agony. Blood started to pour from his eyes sockets as he struggled to free himself.

"ARUGH! RELEASE ME! RELEASE ME!" he pleaded.

In a twisted form of compliance, Ghidorah's left and right heads proceeded to pull both of Lokar's eyes from his sockets. They then started to chew on them before swallowing them, a sense of both horror and disgust overtaking the heroes as they observed this most repulsive scene. As the now blinded Lokar continued to scream and blood continued to seem from his empty eye sockets, a hissing Ghidorah started to encircle his opponent, like a predator circling around his prey.

Hearing his adversary's footsteps, Lokar angrily started to blindly fire energy beams from his mouth in the hopes that they will find their target. Unfortunately for him, it was all for not, as Ghidorah swiftly plunged his left and right heads into the wizard's sockets, penetrating deep through his skull and finding their way to his brain. The screaming and the struggling stopped suddenly as the three-headed Kaiju lifted his opponent upward, the middle head taking aim at Lokar's forehead as his necks slowly started to glow.

Then, he fired his Gravity Beams, the left and right beams frying Lokar's body from the inside while the third did do from the outside. The Lord of Talos' head started to crackle and burn as sparks exploded from inside his body. Lightning bolts began burst from within as his flesh had begun to melt. Finally, after several agonizing seconds, Lokar's body exploded into an array of electricity, the remains having been turned completely to ashes. The mortified heroes stood speechless as the dust slowly began to settle, revealing Ghidorah roaring triumphantly into the skies, his wings spread out completely as fire surrounded him and a blitzkrieg of lightning struck all around him.

One could almost compare the sight to Satan himself literally crawling out of the bowels of Hell.

* * *

Back on the Tower, the other League members could only observe in frightened awe. Most had assumed that Ghidorah was going to meet his end at the non-existent hands of Lokar, only for the destroyer of worlds to overcome him, which left one very important question:

Ghidorah has won...so what now?

The Shobijin, thankful that their advice was not in vain though still concerned as to what the aftermath of this was, were about to impart more words of wisdom to the League, when they suddenly clutched their tiny foreheads, hearing the cries of despair from Mothra herself.

But it was NOT in relation to what was transpiring now.

* * *

When Ghidorah finally ceased roaring, he then proceeded to fall forward slightly, breathing heavily as his wings offered support, something Prime instantly took notice of.

"The fight appears to have weakened him," he commented. "If we just leave him alone, he may decide to leave-"

Suddenly, without warning, Sugilite punched her way through the mound of rubble she was previously buried underneath.

"Screw that!" she shouted. "I say we start clobbering him while he's down!"

She then started charging towards the three-headed terror, wrecking ball in hand.

"Oh no," was all Pearl could say as she placed her fingers on her forehead.

"Sugilite, wait!" Optimus shouted.

His words fell upon deaf ears though, as Sugilite launched herself towards the exhausted Kaiju, swinging her wrecking ball and ready to start bashing Ghidorah's three skulls in.

"Hey, ugly!" she shouted. "Get ready to have all three of your faces sma-"

He threat was then suddenly interrupted when Ghidorah's left head swiftly chomped on Sugilite's hair, causing all five of her eyes to widen as she only now realized the mistake she had made.

"...Ah crap."

No sooner had she said that did Ghidorah's left head pull her upward before smashing her onto the pavement bellow. He then proceeded to swing the fusion into a row of small buildings, toppling them over like dominos.

"Okay, I give, I give! Uncle! UNCLE!" Sugilite cried out.

The left head didn't listen to her surrender as it started to drag her through the ground, only for the middle head to roar angrily at his face. Only then did the left head finally relent and toss the fusion away, causing her to land in front of the other heroes.

"Sugilite!" Danny cried out.

He and the others instantly rushed towards the resulting cloud of dust, only to wind a weakened Garnet and Amethyst lying face-first on the ground.

"That...that one might've been my fault...My bad, G," Amethyst groaned as she and Garnet were assisted back onto their feet by Pearl and Danny.

"Guys, look!" the Black Ranger suddenly shouted.

They and the rest of the League members turned towards where Ghidorah stood to see the three-headed terror narrowing his six eyes right at them before roaring angrily, his necks beginning to charge once again. Seeing this caused the heroes' eyes to widen in fright.

* * *

Back on Skyward Tower, the sight of Ghidorah about to lay waste to their friends caused most of the other League members to gasp out in horror.

"By God, they won't stand a chance!" Duke shouted.

"Somebody teleport them back here!" Sailor Jupiter yelled.

"We can't!" Peridot replied. "The teleporters are still down!"

* * *

"Everyone, fall back!" Optimus commanded. "FALL BACK!"

Ghidorah's mouths began to spark, ready to end the lives of these insignificant creatures...when something caused the sparks to fade and his six eyes to widen slightly. The middle head slowly turned towards Angel Grove Bay, the other two heads and the perplexed heroes following suit.

Out in the bay, one specific spot within the waters slowly started to glow a bright shade of blue, the waters boiling and steam rising as it did so. It did not take long for Ghidorah to process just what, or rather, who this was. His multiple rows of fangs flared as he snarled in contempt at seemingly nothing.

For he knew...HE had finally arrived.

The waters then practically exploded upwards, forming a liquid wall that surrounded a gargantuan shape as it slowly rose from the depths. First came the distinguishable dorsal spines, then a large, reptilian tail rising from behind them, and finally, a sound that brought a chill down all who bore witness to this creature's presence.

 **SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOONGK!**

The waters finally withdrew from hiding the beast within, revealing Godzilla himself, snarling in pure, unbridled detestment, as he slowly approached the one being he truly despised more than the humans he regularly terrorized.

Ghidorah attempted to approach his most hated of enemies as well, only for him to stumble slightly. It was clear that the fight with Lokar had taken its toll on him, and even he knew that if he confronted Godzilla now, it would only result in his demise. And though he knew that the day would come when their rivalry must come to an end...

...it was not this day.

So, as the dorsal spines of Godzilla slowly started to glow from his tail upward, his infamous atomic breath beginning to charge up, Ghidorah's center head hissed a command to his right and left brethren before taking to the skies for the final time. He had done so right on time, as Godzilla then fired a powerful blast of atomic radiation from his mouth, missing its target completely. He looked up as Ghidorah disappeared into the clouds, roaring in contempt once more.

* * *

The other heroes on Skyward Tower observed as Ghidorah left the atmosphere, ignoring the Infinity League's base once more before turning their attention back on the screen. The good news was that both Ghidorah and Lokar were out of the way...but the bad news was that now Godzilla may set his sights on the already devastated city.

"Please leave, please leave," some of them muttered.

* * *

"Nobody...move...a muscle," a petrified Danny instructed.

None of the other League members would dare defy that and foolishly try to attack the King of the Monsters as he slowly observed the city before him. The thought did cross his mind of finishing the job Lokar had started, but he eventually decided not to as he noticed no resistance dared to come his way. These creatures that hated his very existence hadn't done anything to provoke him...yet. Besides, Ghidorah was the only reason he had swam from Monster Island to California, and with him gone, there really wasn't much point to waste more of his time.

So, with a decision reached, Godzilla slowly turned back towards the Pacific Ocean, marching his way through the waters before submerging back into the depths bellow as he started to make his way back home.

* * *

The heroes inside Skyward Tower all collectively breathed a sigh of relief, some of them placing their hands on their chests, when Sashi suddenly noticed something...the Shobijin were gone.

* * *

Back on Angel Grove, Optimus, Danny, Jenny and the other heroes also expressed their relief that Godzilla had spared Angel Grove.

"Alright, now that the threat has passed, we can begin recovery efforts," Optimus stated. "We should start scanning the city immediately. There may still be civilians trapped from within those buildings."

" _Allow us to be of assistance,_ " the voice of Director Yashiro added from the other side of Prime's COMM-link.

The heroes turned back to the shores and noticed the secondary mechanical enforcer of G-Force, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., as well as a fleet of Super-X's, approaching the city. G-Force's reinforcements had finally arrived.

" _We'd be happy to have it, Director,_ " Optimus replied.

With that, the Autobot leader transformed into his semi-truck mode and drove off into the city while Danny and Jenny started to scan the downtown area from the skies in search of survivors, when the duo of League leaders noticed something that caused their eyes to widen in surprise.

"Hey, Optimus, didn't Lokar manage to cut one of Ghidorah's heads off around here?" Danny asked through his COMM.

"...Yes, he did," Optimus answered, clearly wondering why Danny asked that. "Why?"

"...It's gone," Jenny answered for Danny.

* * *

Far away on Infant Island, the Shobijin wasted no time returning to their home and rushing to Mothra's shrine, where the benevolent Kaiju continued to cry out in despair.

"Do...do you believe that..." Moll questioned to her twin, afraid to know the answer.

"There is only one being that can cause such great despair to Mothra," Lora answered. "It seems as though Optimus and his Illuminati's immoral actions were for nothing after all."

"But why now?" Moll asked on the verge of tears. "Mothra will soon give birth to her offspring. Once she's done so...she won't stand a chance."

"I wish there was another way too, sister, but I'm afraid that destiny has already been written," an equally saddened Lora replied. "If the Phoenix has indeed returned...Mothra must face it once again."

* * *

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Black Hat continued to stare at his prize with the same ear-to-ear, sharp-toothed grin on his face. It was most fortunate for him that Dimentia and Flugg didn't manage to screw this one up. For now, he and his Society had surely gained the upper hand on the Infinity League and it's ever growing army of superheroes.

For now, he had one of the heads of the mighty King Ghidorah and several samples of his blood.

Once he had been given his prize, he immediately had Flugg get to work on finding a way to clone the three-headed horror of the cosmos. But this wasn't to be a simple duplicate of Ghidorah. Oh no. For this Ghidorah would also have the benefit of being bonded with some of his DNA. And once life was given to this new monstrosity, he will have a demonic attack dog at his beckon to destroy all that he pleases.

The mere thought of that caused Black Hat to chuckle deviously in delight as he turned to leave the room which contained a massive tube that held Ghidorah's head.

A tube that read 'Desghidorah.'

* * *

 **[1] - As seen in Spotlight #7**

 **[2] - As seen in Chapter 3 of The Dark Phoenix**

 **[3] - Stay tuned to Infinity League: No Road Home to witness this time traveling excusrion.**


	11. Brightburn

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here we have the next Spotlight out of the three we've finished, and, as you can see, is the second of our two villain centric Spotlights.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Brightburn: I, Monster

* * *

It wasn't difficult for Brandon Breyer to accept that he was a god, and like most gods of old, he was a wrathful one. After killing his way through his hometown of Brightburn, Kansas, he initially had intended to lay low after causing the plane crash to cover his tracks, but after some thinking, the boy had an epiphany: Why should he hide? Does one hide when he steps on an ant? No, they do not. They step on them and keep going. That was what the human race was to Brandon. Merely insects that were under his foot, and he enjoyed stomping them.

Shortly after the massacre of his hometown was over, the superpowered psychopath had been moving from one small town to the next, slaughtering whatever he could find, whether that be man, woman or child. At first, he felt nothing as he took life after life, but the more he killed the humans around him, he began to have a sensation slowly overtake him: pleasure.

Every scream, every cry for mercy and the sight of every weeping family huddling together in sheer terror of his presence gave him a deep sense of satisfaction as he killed them slowly and painfully. Brandon especially enjoyed killing entire families, for it reminded him of when he murdered his adopted parents. Since making his presence known, the boy, who the media has now dubbed 'Brightburn' after his first rampage, had massacred his way through three towns and he was about to make his way toward his biggest target: Topeka.

The National Guard had been trying to stop him every step of the way, but they only added to his every growing body count, now well into the thousands. It wasn't before long that the military was forced to pull back as the superhuman child finally approached his destination, focusing instead on evacuation efforts. However, Brightburn's superhuman speed allowed him to arrive while the National Guard was still in the midst of trying to move the civilians out of the city.

As Brandon floated in mid-air at the city before him, he couldn't help but smirk underneath his mask at the thought of the amount of death and destruction he was about to bring down upon these meatbags. With his advanced hearing, he could already hear the panicked screams of his future victims when they discovered that he had arrived, only further exciting him.

"That's far enough, Brandon," a male voice said from behind him.

The superpowered psychopath turned around to find seven individuals standing behind him, but these were no mere seven new victims to tear through, for these were gods like him. They were the seven leaders of the mighty Infinity League: Danny Phantom, Kim Possible, XJ-9, the Ninja of Norriseville, SheZow, the American Dragon and Optimus Prime. Together, they guided the Infinity League against the hordes of evil that plagued the world, evil such as Brandon. When he first discovered his powers, the boy had dreamed of joining the ranks of the League, but now he saw that they would've only held him back from using his full potential and attempt to thwart his real reason for being sent to this backwater planet: To take the world. Now, they were only obstacles in his path. Obsticles that he was looking forward to removing.

"We know who you are, Brandon," Danny continued. "And we don't want to fight you. We want to help you."

Brandon said nothing in response. Instead, he only floated before the heroes in silence.

"We know that you've done wrong, but I can tell you that all of us here have been in your shoes," the half-ghost furthered. "We all have wanted to use our powers and skills to get back at those who have wronged us, but this isn't the right way. We can help you, Brandon. Just surrender and we can-"

"No," the boy suddenly replied in a stoic voice. "Now leave before I kill you."

The boy knew that there would be no purpose even humoring what the ghost boy had proposed to him. He knew that they'd only literally try and stab him in the back like his adopted mother.

"Well, so much for negotiations," Kim, who was wearing her battle suit, noted before turning to Danny. "Now what?"

"We keep him focused on us and away from the evacuation," Danny said to the others.

"That should be easy," Jenny commented. "It's seven against one."

"Somehow I doubt that's going to matter," Shezow said.

The two sides faced off with one another, neither side wavering for even a second. Danny didn't want it to come to this. He wanted to help the boy, not hurt him. But it was clear that the child wasn't going to listen to reason. So, despite his best efforts, he and his fellow League members would have to bring the boy in by force.

"Take him down," he said to the other League Leaders.

Brightburn flew toward the League's leaders as they charged toward him as a unified front. Danny was the first to strike with a punch, but the superpowered boy blocked it before grabbing him by his suit and flinging him aside. He kicked XJ-9 into a nearby building before swatting Kim and the Ninja away with a single swing of his arm. Brandon then evaded Optimus' foot before striking the giant robot in the knee, causing Prime to let out a pain filled cry before Brandon flew up and punched him across his face, knocking him to the ground in doing so.

However, Brandon was so preoccupied with his attack that he failed to see the American Dragon come up behind him and slash his claws into his back. Normally, such an attack would not harm the god-like child, but due to the supernatural properties of the dragon's being, he felt the sting of claws raking across his skin. Pain was an alien concept to the boy, for he hadn't encountered anything native to this world that could harm him, and it only furthered his rage. He spun around and grabbed the Dragon by the throat, squeezing his scaly neck in a vice grip.

Brandon's eyes began to shine red as he charged his heat vision to bore through the winged reptile's skull like he had done to his adoptive father. However, before he could, a pink-gloved fist collided with his cheek, knocking his heat vision away from the Dragon and off into the skies above. The hit was strong enough to make Brightburn release his hold on the Dragon's throat. The strike came from SheZow, who kept up her assault with a series of powerful blows and ended with direct punch to the boy's face that sent him flying backwards before smashing through the wall of an office building and tumble through some of the office desks within it. SheZow rocketed into the hole Brightburn had made in order to follow up on her attack. However, the moment she entered the office building, she was struck by a surprise flying desk that her enemy had thrown at her, knocking her back in the process. With his distraction a success, Brandon flew upwards through the ceiling of the building and back into the sky. But just as he had escaped one hero, another had lunged at him.

With a roar, the American Dragon flew towards him with his claws at the ready and his mouth full of flames. The Dragon spewed fire from his maw at the superpowered psycho, forcing him to shield himself from the fire with his arms. The fire actualy burned his skin, shocking the boy profusely. How was the Dragon capable of harming him? Fire had no effect on him before, so how was this any different? The the only answer Brandon could surmise was that, much like his claws, the Dragon's fire was supernatural in origin, thus giving it the extra edge he needed to do harm to him.

With an anger-filled cry, the boy fought through the pain and flames as he flew forward toward the Dragon. Once he was close enough, the psychotic child reached out and crushed one of the Dragon's wings, making his enemy let out a very human scream of agony in doing so. Brandon let the winged reptile fall back toward the ground below, but thankfully, he was caught by SheZow, who had been flying up to assist her teammate after shrugging off the hit from the desk.

Now preoccupied with trying to get her wounded teammate to safety, SheZow failed to notice Brightburn, who was charging up his heat vision again to knock both League Leaders out of the sky. But before he could strike them down, he was knocked across the sky by a surprise ecto-charged fist from Danny, who had flow up from where he had been initially been hit in order to deliver a little payback. The punch sent the god-like child straight into Jenny, who had merged and morphed her arms into a giant hammer that batted Brandon back down to the earth. The boy created a crater when he collided with the street's pavement, but the heroes knew that wasn't going be enough to keep him down. So, acting quickly, the robot and the half-ghost landed back on the ground and fired a barrage of lasers and ectoplasm at the the downed boy until their combined assault had kicked up a cloud of dust.

"You think we got him?" Jenny asked.

"I think we just pissed him off," Danny admitted.

No sooner had the spectral hero said that did the two heroes see a pair of blazing red eyes pierce through the thick cloud of debris. With an angry yell, Brandon shot of the cloud and swung his fists wildly at the two heroes. Luckily Jenny managed to evade the attack while Danny went intangible to avoid the assault. Jenny punched Brightburn in the stomach before morphing her other arm into a pulse cannon and aiming it directly at the boy's face, but Brandon grabbed her newly formed gun arm and flung the teen robot into her teammate, sending them both tumbling into a nearby parked truck.

"Ninja Air Fist!" a voice cried out.

A strong ball of air struck Brandon in the back, knocking him off balance for a moment before he corrected himself. Brandon turned around to see the Ninja standing before him with his sword drawn and ready to take him on.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" Brightburn asked mockingly.

"Yeah, but I'm hoping this hurts more," the Ninja replied.

Before Brandon could understand what he protector of Norrisville had meant by that, he felt something bump up against his shoe. He looked down to see a large set of what he thought where marbles at his feet. However, the 'marbles' suddenly exploded, causing Brightburn to be engulfed in flames. With the insane child caught off guard, Kim leaped through the smoke and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick across the boy's face. Thanks to her battle suit, it increased her strength, thus allowing her attacks to be felt by her god-like enemy. Brandon staggered backwards as Kim kept up her attack with a series of kicks and punches that continued to knock the boy backwards. Brightburn attempted to throw a punch, but it was quickly caught by the Ninja's scarf, who then swung forward with a flying kick to the psychopath's face. Together, Kim and the Ninja fought as one, evading and attacking their foe as a united force. Brightburn may have powers that dwarfed the two heroes, but he lacked the skill and training that they had on their side. The longer the two kicked and punched Brightburn while he swung his arms wildly, the more the boy became enraged.

"I'll kill you!" Branden exclaimed as he tried to hit them. "I'll kill you all to death!"

"Not with that poor literacy you won't," Kim teased.

Just then, the respective combatants heard the sound of a semi-truck's horn blaring. Coming down the street at top speed was Optimus Prime in his vehicle mode. Kim and Randy leaped out of the way at the last second, but Brandon was hit by the full force of the charging Autobot. However, instead of continuing to drive forward with the alien child stuck on the grill of his vehicle mode, Optimus was stopped dead in his tracks, his trailer even buckling slightly, all the while smoke spewed from his tires as he tried to push forward. But Brandon was holding him back with both his hands on the grill of the alien truck. Forced to switch tactics, Optimus transformed into his robot form, roughly took hold of the child and pinned him down to the ground.

"Stand down, boy," Optimus advised. "We don't wish to harm you. Just surrender and this fight can end peacefully."

Brightburn let an enraged shout as fired another set of beams from his eyes, burning Prime's hand and forcing the Autobot to let him go. The moment he was freed from the Cybertronian's hold on him, Brandon shot up into the air and struck Prime with an uppercut that knocked the Autobot leader onto his back. He then landed on the alien robot's chest before reaching down and starting to pry open his chest in an attempt to tear out his spark. Optimus cried out in pain as he felt his metallic skin being torn from his body.

Thankfully, before he could do any serious damage, Kim managed to kick Brandon off of Prime's person and right into the Ninja's fist, who now had activated the spikes on the knuckles of his suit so that he could deliver a stronger blow. The blades in the Ninja's suit tore off a chunk of Branden's mask, revealing some of his face to the young hero in doing so. The Ninja knew that he was fighting a kid only a few years younger than himself, but the mask helped him disassociate himself from pummeling a child. Now that mask was torn and he could see a part of an angry little boy underneath it.

It was this brief moment of hesitation that gave Brandon the time he needed to punch the Ninja through a large plate glass of a nearby building. No sooner had he done that did a pink streak shoot toward him before grabbing him by his shirt and lift him into the sky. It was SheZow, and she was ready for a second round. The psychotic boy broke free of the Glamazon warrior's grasp mid-flight and flew up several yards higher into the sky before stopping to face the pink-clad heroine. The two of them shot toward one another with clenched fists. When Brightburn and SheZow's fists collided into one another, it created a shockwave with the force of a bomb that shattered every window within a two mile radius.

Brandon was the first to follow up from the earth-shaking blow with a punch to the heroine's jaw before taking his opponent by her uniform and hurling her into the eighth story of a nearby building, knocking her through several office desks much like she had done to him earlier. SheZow was grateful that this part of the city was already evacuated, or this situation would've been a lot more dire. Just as the heroine had gotten back to her feet, Brandon floated into the building with his eyes blazing red. With a shout, Brightburn unleashed his heat vision at his enemy, but the red-hot beams were blocked by SheZow's laser lipstick.

Brandon was so focused on killing SheZow that he failed to listen to his super hearing, for coming through the floors at a rapid pace was Jenny, who was looking to even the score with the young psycho. The android exploded out of the floor below the boy, striking him in the stomach with a rocket punch as she did. Keeping her enemy pressed against her fist, Jenny continued to rocket upwards through several floors as she made her way up toward roof of the structure. As he was smashed through floor after floor, Brandon's heat vision sprayed wildly from his eyes, cutting through several support beams within the buildings that made the structure start to give way.

Seeing the building starting to collapse around her, SheZow flew out of the building via the hole that her teammate had left behind. SheZow narrowly avoided being buried by the falling building as it came down as she flew out of the hole Jenny had left and flew toward the scene of her robotic teammate trading blows with the superpowered psychopath. Back on the ground, Optimus took hold of Kim and the Ninja and transformed back into his vehicle mode in order to protect them from the cloud of debris that was about to wash over them. With his teammates safe, Prime drove out of the wreckage, all the while Kim and the Ninja kept their eyes on the skies as they watched the other leaders of the League continue their fight with Brightburn as it began to drift deeper into the city.

Back in the sky, SheZow flew to XJ-9's aid with her laser lipstick at the ready. She swung her energy blade at Brightburn, who narrowly dodged the attack before punching her downward into another building. Jenny put her arms together and formed a massive laser that struck Brandon in the chest and knocked him backwards several feet before he managed to correct himself. However, his recovery was short lived, for another blast of Ectopalsm struck him in the back. Enraged by the surprised hit, Branden whirled around to strike down the heroic half ghost, only to instead be greeted by his white gloved fist that struck him in between the eyes.

Before he could take his revenge on Danny, a volley of flames hit him from below. Brandon looked down to see, much to his shock, that the American Dragon was flying toward him despite having his wing broken only an hour ago. What Brandon didn't know was that after being wounded in his fight with the god-like child, SheZow quickly brought the Dragon to the Ninja, who used his art of healing to mend his friend's broken wing before jumping back to the fray. The Dragon had to wait several minutes on the sidelines to allow his wounds to properly heal before joining the other leaders of the League into the heat of battle once more.

Now alongside Danny and the Dragon, Jenny flew beside her teammates with her arms still in their laser mode. Together, the three heroes unleashed a united beam of energy that knocked Brightburn out of the sky and back into the ground. The trio continued their united assault as they landed back on the ground, hoping that this would be enough to hold him down this time. After several minutes, the trio halted their onslaught, hoping that they had finally stopped their enemy. However, the moment they stopped the attack, Brightburn shot out of the smoke left behind from the attack in a now badly torn costume and punched the Dragon several feet away from the others before snatching Danny by his suit and hurling him into a building which he thankfully phased through before colliding with another building. However, the force of the throw caused him to smash into several walls inside of the building that he failed phase through.

Jenny attempted to throw a punch of her own at the boy, but Brandon caught her oncoming fist and with a single jerk of his arm, he tore XJ-9's arm off at the shoulder, causing her to let out a scream of agony. Her teammates watched in horrified shock at the sight of their friend being wounded in such a way. Brightburn then backhanded her into a parked car, knocking her out upon impact before showing Jenny's comrade's severed appendage in his hand like a sick trophy before tossing it aside, renewed in his will to kill these fools who dared to stand against him.

"Jenny!" the dragon called out to her.

The American Dragon rushed over to Jenny's side so that he could get her to safety, but Brandon flew toward him in order to try and cut him off. Acting quickly, Optimus drew his Ion Blaster and fired a round at the boy. He didn't want to use his weapons against a child, no matter how powerful he was, but after seeing what he had done to Jenny, there was no other choice. However, instead of hitting Brightburn, the god-like child merely swatted the ion blast into a the side of a building, blowing a massive hole in the side of it. Done with the alien robot's presence, Brandon turned his attention towards Prime. Before anyone could react, Brightburn flew at the Autobot leader at full speed and struck him across the face with the force of a cruise missile, causing Optimus to fall backwards into a skyscraper. When Prime collapsed into the structure, the rest of the building fell on top of him.

The blow knocked Prime into stasis, leaving him vulnerable to Brightburn. Not wanting to see another one of his friends harmed, the Ninja threw out his scarf one more to try and pull their enemy down and away from Prime. But Brightburn grabbed the oncoming scarf and instead yanked the protector of Norrisville off of the ground and right into his waiting hand. But before Brandon could do any real damage to the Ninja, the defender of Norrisville pulled out a flash ball and shut his eyes tightly before activating it, blinding Brightburn from the intense flash of light which made him release his grip on the Ninja's person.

As he fell, the Ninja threw out his scarf to grab onto a nearby lamppost. Using his own inertia to pull him forward, the Ninja swung back upwards towards Brightburn and unleashed a Tengu Fire Ball that knocked Brandon out of the sky and back onto the streets below. As the god-like child tried to stand back to his feet, Kim greeted him with a strong kick to his jaw that knocked him back onto the ground. Kim hated the idea of fighting dirty, but if they were to defeat this monster, she and the other heroes would have use every trick in the book to stop him. The teen agent kept the superpowered opponent at bay with a flurry of kicks and punches, not giving her young enemy so much as a second to recover, for she knew that she would share the same fate as Prime and Jenny otherwise.

It wasn't before long that the Ninja joined in her assault with his sword drawn. Brightburn could barley evade the swings of the Ninja's magical blade, fearing that it could pierce his skin due its supernatural properties. With a lucky thrust of his swords, the Ninja managed to leave a small, yet still painful cut across the alien boy's cheek. It was still a shocking concept for him, to see himself bleed, for he thought nothing but the material from the ship that brought him to Earth could hurt him.

In a fit of blind rage, Brandon unleashed a blast of hat vision at the two young heroes. The Ninja used his sword to hold back the deadly beams, but the strength of the heat vision was causing the the Ninja's leg to start to buckle under the power. Just as he began to feel his strength begin to give way, SheZow came down from the skies at a breakneck speed and tackled Brightburn through the street and down into the sewers below the city. The Glamazon warrior pinned the god-like child underneath the river of sludge and filth as she began to strike him again and again with one powerful blow after another that shook the very foundations of the city until she was kicked off of the young villain's person. Brightburn shot out of the river of filth and flew toward SheZow, who stopped him dead in his tracks with a sonic scream and managed to pin him up against a sewer wall with the power of her scream.

The god-like child unleash a blast of his heat vision and struck the pink-clad heroine in the shoulder, burning her skin and causing her to break off from the attack. It was at this time that that Kim and the Ninja and jumped down into the sewer to aid their friend. But just as they jumped into the sewer, Brightburn flew up to meet them halfway there, grabbed them both by the throat and threw them down into the sewers. The Ninja was the first to recover from the the attack and leaped at the young psycho with his sword, but his adversary grabbed him by his wrist and broke it with little effort.

The Ninja cried out in pain as he dropped his sword to the ground. Brandon would have thrusted his fist through the protector of Norrisville's chest had it not been for Kim, who struck the young killer in the side of his head with a flying kick, giving the Ninja the time he needed to get away from Brandon's hold. However, Brightburn now focused his fury upon the teen agent, who he took hold of by her arms and began to pull, ready to tear her in half. But before he could do so, an invisible force struck him from behind him with a powerful blow, forcing him to let go of Kim.

Brightburn spun around to see who had hit him and saw Danny Phantom become visible again before striking Brandon with a blow so powerful it sent him flying backwards and smashing through the sewers, back out out into the city above. Danny's suit was torn across the chest and his eyes were blazing dark green with a rage that could only be calmed by ending this fight once and for all. With a speed his teammates hadn't thought he couldn't achieve, Danny rocketed out of the sewers in peursuit of the god-like the child, who was still tumbling helplessly through the air as he tried to regain his bearings again. The half-ghost didn't give him the chance to recover with another punch that sent the boy flying backwards before repeating the process over and over again as the fight went deeper into the city.

After the fourth punch, Brandon finally managed to correct himself mid-air and fired another beam of his heat vision at the spectral hero, who countered by firing another ectopalsm beam. The two opposing beams created an an eruption of energy that tore through several surrounding buildings. The resulting blinding light stunned both combatants for several moments, but it was Brandon who regained his sight first, and the first thing he saw was crowd of stunned onlookers looking up at the battle that was taking place above them. Seeing an opportunity to get back at the heroes that he had been at war with in the best way possible, Brandon unleashed his heat vision again, this time down upon the humans below, but the beam was veered off course when Danny quickly flew up behind the boy and put him in choke hold.

"Stop, Brandon!" Danny commanded as he fought to keep the beams from hitting the civilians below them. "Don't do this! STOP!"

"Never!" the god-like child refused angrily. "I'll kill them all and you can't stop me!"

Despite pouring all his strength into holding Brandon back, the boy was pushing his head forward, thus bringing his beams toward the frightened onlookers, who were being driven back up against a wall in terror. Danny was running out of options. He had to stop the boy here and now or this madness would never end. He wouldn't dare try and break the boy's neck. While that wouldn't for sure kill him, the League would never break their oath to never take a life. So, he turned to a technique that he had been practicing for a while to subdue living threats. The only draw back was that, if he did this wrong, he could end killing the boy all the same, but as he watched the beam get closer to the frightened humans below, he was left without a choice.

Taking his hand, Danny phased it into the back of the boy's head. He then used his fingers to pass through Brightburn's skull in order to reach his brain. Once he had done that, he began to touch certain nerve points within Brandon's brain, forcing him to pass out from the nerve pinch. With Brightburn finally subdued, Danny quickly checked his pulse to see if he hadn't killed him. Thankfully, he could still feel that the alien child was still alive. With the villain stopped, Danny took the boy in his arms and flew down to the ground, where the National Guard and GJN forces had gathered to take the boy into custody.

* * *

After the beating they had collectively taken, the leaders of the Infinity League were forced to return to Skyward Tower at once in order to receive medical attention, but several other League members were dispatched down to Topeka to aid with the clean up. The battle between the League and Brightburn had resulted in over $57 million in damages to the city and the League's political enemy, Senator Wilfred Masterson, used the battle as more fuel to his fire of demanding that the Infinity League needed to be registered. But the leaders were in no shape to be bothered with that now, for what they needed at the moment was rest and to be with loved ones.

As the seven leaders were being patched up in the Tower's medical wing, they were visited by those closest to them. The Ninja was of course visited by his lover, Rena Rouge, who stayed with him into the wee hours of the night as he used his healing technique to patch himself up.

Jenny had her arm reattached to her person by her mother, who only showed nothing but love to her robotic child.

Ron stayed with Kim as she healed up, doing his best to keep his girlfriend's spirits up as he did.

SheZow was not only visited by her publicist and the League's P.R. Director, Kelly, but also as her sidekick, Maz. She was also visited by one of Kelly's new staff members, Heidi Weinerman, who seemed to show her concern over the heroine's recovery as than more than just a friend.

Optimus had tried to return to his duties, but Ratchet kept him from doing so. However, he did give orders to Hoist, Grapple and even Ectotron back in New York to help him design a new weapon that could stop another threat like Brightburn codenamed 'Project: Powermaster.'

The American Dragon had no visitors during his stay in the infirmary, though he did request to take the rest of the week off, no doubt to be with loved ones, though no one knew where a dragon would go in New York to find others like him.

As for Danny, he had only one visitor during his time healing from his wounds, but thankfully it was someone he needed to see the most.

"How are you feeling?" Jazz inquired.

"Like I went ten rounds with Godzilla," Danny answered.

"That's not what I meant, Danny," his elder sister said. "How do you feel?"

Danny went silent after understanding what his sibling had really meant by that. He gathered his thoughts before finally speaking.

"I hate myself, Jazz. I didn't want to fight that kid, but I could just see it in his eyes that there no saving him, He'd just keep killing unless we stopped him. And it's not just that I couldn't help him."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw something ugly in myself as I fought him, and I'm sure the rest of the team did too. You know how angry I was at the world when I just got my powers. If it wasn't for you, Sam, Tucker, Mom, Dad and everyone else in my life, I'm afraid I could've ended up like that boy. Hell, in one timeline I became something worse."

"But you didn't. You became what I always knew you were. A good man."

She then leaned down to hug her sibling, who returned the gesture with one of his own.

"My office is always open in case you want to talk more about it," she assured her brother. "And that includes after hours too."

"Thanks, sis," he replied with a warm smile.

It was then that another visitor entered the infirmary, though it was someone who no expected. It was Dr. Betty Director, the head of the Global Justice Network, and to see her in person was a rarity in of itself.

"Well, look who decided to crawl out of her hole," the Ninja said sarcastically. "And to what we owe this surprise visit?"

"I wanted to see how you were all fairing after the fight," the GJN director said. "That boy was unlike anything any of us had encountered before. When I heard the reports that you had engaged that boy I was afraid that some of you didn't make it back."

"How thoughtful of you," the Ninja noted dryly. "And what did you do with the kid? Not recruit him into your ranks I hope."

"The boy is far too dangerous for us to even consider such a thing," Dr. Director replied. "Besides, let's just say that Global Justice has enough monsters as it is."

"So, where is Brandon?" Danny questioned.

"I'm afraid that's classified," the head of the GJN answered "What we should be asking, however, is where did that boy come from? And more importantly, are there others out there like him?"

"I don't think so," another voice spoke up.

Everyone turned to see Garnet enter the infirmary.

"What do you mean, Garnet?" Optimus asked.

"Steven and I just finished talking to the Diamonds," the Gem fusion began.

It was still a strange situation for the other heroes within the League that the Diamonds, once deadly enemies to the planet, had recently become their allies, all thanks to Steven, who successfully reconnected with his distant family.

"I told them about Brightburn and asked them if there others out there like him," Garnet continued. "They told me that his his species was a race of conquerors that sent infants to planets as infiltration units. They said that when they reach a certain age, the ship they arrived in sends a telepathic message that tells them to conquer the world. But their home planet was destroyed twelve years ago and his people were wiped out."

"Twelve years ago?" Dr. Director repeated. "That's roughly the timeframe we predicted Brandon's pod fell to Earth."

"Do they have any idea what could've destroyed the planet?" SheZow questioned. "Like a meteor or black hole?"

"They said it was someone powerful," Garnet answered. "They didn't go into much detail after that. They almost seemed afraid just thinking about it. They just called it 'The Golden Destroyer.'"

"...Did they mean Ghidorah?" Jenny asked, petrified of Garnet's answer.

"No," Garnet answered. "I asked them the same question. They just said that it wasn't a Kaiju."

"Oh, good, so we have a planet killing guy running around the cosmos," the Ninja noted. "We seriously need health insurance."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Danny said before looking back at Dr. Director. "Now again, I ask: Where is Brandon?"

Dr. Director narrowed her eye at boy, knowing that he wasn't going to let this go.

"All you need to know is that he's somewhere where he can't be a threat to anyone else," she stated firmly.

With that, Dr. Director turned and exited from the infirmary, all the while the League's leaders collectively glared at her as they wondered the ultimate fate of the boy.

* * *

Brandon's eyes slowly opened to allow him to see a strange, steel ceiling staring down at him. As the god-like child slowly got back to his feet, he felt strange. Like his strength had been robbed from him. He looked around the room in confusion, slowly realizing that he was in some sort of prison cell. It wasn't before long that he saw a strange, dark purple force-field closing him in his cell. Standing on the other side of the barrier was a man in a suit and wearing dark sunglasses. With an angered shout, Brandon lunged at the force field, only to be rebuked when when he struck it. He then tried to unleash his heat vision, only for it to be a weak beam that hardly reached the barrier.

"I would advise you to save your strength," the man advised. "Not that it will last much longer."

"Where am I?" Brandon demanded "What is this place?"

"Welcome to Hell's Gate," the man explained. "You are being currently confined within Cell Block X. A block within the prison that is meant to hold Omega-Level threats such as yourself. It should interest you to know that you are the first inmate to be held in this part of the prison."

"Whoever you are, you can't keep me in here forever!" the alien child declared.

"My name is Bishop, leader of the Utrom Tribe and warden of Hell's Gate," the warden explained. "And as for your escape, that is quite unlikely. This cell was constructed from the metal of the ship that brought you to Earth, which you have a weakness to. We also scanned your biology and discovered that is has a weakness to the energies of Dimension X, the very place this prison is located in. [1] I suspect that your powers will leave you in no less than five minutes from now."

Rather than to try and argue with with his alien captor, Brandon instead removed his shirt and mustered what strength he had to use his heat vision to burn a strange marking into his chest. It was the symbol he had drawn so many times in his notebook and all over his hometown. After his self-mutilation, he gave Warden Bishop a deranged smile, one that unsettled even the emotionless Utrom. It was Brandon's way of telling him that no matter how long it took, he'd one day break out of his cell.

And on that day, he'd kill all those who had incarcerated him.

* * *

 **[1] - This prison conceptulized in a meeting between Bishop and Dr. Director in Part 5 of The New Frontier**


	12. SheZow

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

SheZow: Bloodties

* * *

"So, how have you been since our last session?" Jazz asked.

Guy shifted uncomfortably in his seat upon hearing that question. On paper, there wasn't anything that he should be feeling uncomfortable about, but beneath the surface, it was a much different story. Since his last session with Jazz, **[1]** the secretly male hero had begun to get in touch his feminine side, and while he felt a bit more at peace with himself by accepting that part of himself, it was a side that he still had to hide from his parents, or better specifically, his father, who would disown him in a heartbeat if he ever confronted him about this. But aside from that, there was a bigger problem on the pink-powered heroine's mind at the moment. One that was the major reason as to why he was here in the first place.

"Fine doc, I guess..." SheZow began halfheartedly. "I've doing as you've suggested and have been getting in touch with my more feminine side and it's taken a load off my mind, but..."

"But?" Jazz repeated questioningly.

"Well, in case you're not in the know, I've been seeing one of the staff members in the P.R. department," the Glamazon warrior admitted. "Her name's Heidi. I actually met her during that whole mess with Krang and his rock warriors in Norrisville a little while back. **[2]** I even helped her get the P.R. gig."

"That's good. I'm glad you're getting out there. Having a partner could prove to be what you need during this fragile time for you," the psychiatrist replied.

"Yeah, well, that's the thing," SheZow corrected. "We're having a date tonight, and a part of me want's to tell her something about myself that I probably shouldn't tell her."

"I see," Jazz understood. "You want to reveal your secret identity to her."

"...Yeah..." the pink powered heroine confirmed slowly.

"Are you scared that she'll reveal your identity?" the ginger reasoned. "Or are you scared that she'll reject you once she sees the real you?"

"The latter," SheZow answered. "I'm afraid that, if I show her who I really am, she won't accept me."

"And what makes you think that?" Jazz asked.

"Let's just say that I'm not always the woman I claim to be," SheZow replied. "I feel like I've been lying to her all this time, and if she knows the truth about me, she'll turn her back on me."

"Well, you obviously care about Heidi, that much is clear," the superhero psychiatrist concluded. "But it seems to me that you're more scared of the idea of revealing yourself to her because even you're not ready to accept that part of yourself. If she does reject you, then that'll be excuse for you to keep that side of yourself buried."

Guy hadn't thought of it from that angle. True, he had been more willing to indulge in his own inner feelings by buying women's clothing for his own personal wardrobe, but he wasn't quite exactly showing it off in public either. Whenever he was alone at home and not distracted by his duties with the League, Guy would dress up in the clothing he had purchased and would look at himself in the mirror, and while a part of him would feel at peace with what he saw, there was still another side of his mind that wasn't 100% on board with this new him just yet. If Heidi rejected not only his true identity but also his secret desires, then would that mean he wouldn't truly accept himself anymore?

"So, what should I do?" the secretly male hero wondered.

"If you're still not fully on board with telling her who who you really are, then maybe now isn't a good time to talk about it," Jazz advised. "If you can't accept yourself, then how can you expect others to do the same?"

"That's a bit blunt don't you think?" SheZow pointed out.

"I'm a psychiatrist, SheZow, sometimes I have to be blunt," Jazz explained before looking at her watch. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have. I'd like to pick up on this next Thursday. If that's okay with you, of course."

"Sure," the Glamazon warrior agreed glumly. "I'll see you next week, Doc."

With that, the pink-powered heroine stepped out of Jazz's office. But just as Guy opened the door, he found the Ninja standing in the doorway, no doubt here for his own private session with Jazz.

"Oh, hey dude, how was your session?" the defender of Norrisville asked.

"It was...insightful," SheZow answered before asking "I'm headed to your neck of the woods tonight by the way. Thought I'd give you a heads up."

"Oh, really? What for?" the Ninja asked curiously.

"I've got a date with Heidi tonight," his teammate answered.

"Oh, so you guys are official now, huh?" the protector of Norrisville gathered.

While SheZow and his/her girlfriend wanted to keep their relationship on the down-low, it was hard to do so when their friends and co-workers could easily see how close they had gotten in such sort amount of time. No doubt the moment that showed the others that they were more than just friends was when Heidi visited Guy in the infirmary after the beating he and the other leaders took during their fight with Brightburn. **[3]** Since then, they had been all but official among their peers, though they kept their dates strictly on the Tower so as not to be hounded by the media like the Ninja and Rena were.

The other reason was that, if they did go public with their relationship, they'd be demonized for their love, and while SheZow was really a man under the skirt, to the rest of the world, and his beloved, he was a woman. The only reason they were doing this date in Norrisville was that Heidi was sick of all the hiding and wanted to get over the anti-LGBT BS as soon as possible. It was this fear of going public that was another reason Guy was fearful of his true gender being revealed, for he feared that his status as a trans-superhero would have the general public look poorly on the League, and while Guy's team was quite accepting of all people, he knew that the outside world didn't always share that view.

"Yeah, I guess we are," SheZow confirmed before asking. "Hey, Ninja, you've known Heidi longer than I have, so maybe you can answer something for me."

"Sure, dude, what's up?" the Ninja assured.

"Well, it's like this, you see," his friend began. "I want to tell Heidi my secret identity, but I don't know how she'll take it. You think she'll accept me for who I really am?"

"It's kinda hard to say, really," the Ninja admitted. "I mean, I didn't even know she was into girls until she started dating you. But as far back as I can remember, she's never really liked surprises. On the other hand, she does really care about you, so maybe she'll be cool with it. Look, I know it's corny to say this, but you just gotta be yourself and hopefully she'll accept you for who you really are."

'Easier said than done,' Guy thought to himself.

"Besides, it's not like you're really a dude underneath that skirt, so I think you're good," his fellow League leader added jokingly, effectively killing any remaning trace of confidence Guy had left in his body.

"Heh-heh...yeah," SheZow laughed nervously in agreement. "Well, I need to go get ready for tonight. Wish me luck!"

"You don't need luck, you're SheZow!" the Ninja assured.

Guy didn't answer. Instead, he only walked away, all the while wondering what his next move should be.

* * *

Kelly and Maz had been watching Guy pace back and fourth in the She-Lair for nearly ten minutes now while still in his superhero persona, all the while he had a look of utter distress on his face. They already knew what was on the trans-hero's mind, and even though they were supportive of him, they knew that this situation was going to happen at some point.

"If your this stressed out about telling Heidi who you really are, then don't do it," his sister suggested. "It's kinda obvious that even you aren't ready to tell her."

"I know, but if I don't tell her now, then when?" Guy answered. "I can't be SheZow around her 24/7!"

"I don't see the big deal here," Maz interjected. "Heidi's bi, right? So, she'll still be into you even if you tell her you're really a dude."

"That's not the point, Maz," his friend corrected sharply. "The point is that she's in love with Shezow, who, need I remind you, she thinks is a woman!"

"...So?" the sidekick asked, still not getting it.

"So, I've been lying to her face this whole time!" Guy exclaimed.

"Oh," Maz understood. "Then it's gonna be real awkward when she finds out that she got a hotdog when she ordered a taco."

Kelly swiftly popped Maz over the head for that crass remark.

"I deserved that," the sidekick admitted.

"Look, if Heidi truly loves you, then she'll accept you for who you are," his twin sister advised. "But if you deiced to do this, then you should at least consider everything that goes along with revealing your secret identity. Even if she rejects you, then she'll still know who you really are, and that could be dangerous for both you and her. And I don't think I could stop her from leaking the information even if I fire her."

"I doubt she'd turn on me even if she didn't accept that I was a boy. She has too much respect for the hero community to do such a thing," SheZow reasoned. "But you're right, Kelly. If I tell her, it puts a target on her back for all my enemies to exploit no matter what happens between us."

Guy crossed his arms as he stopped mid-pace while he mentally weighed his options. He didn't really give much thought about what the ramifications of telling his lover who he really was might ensue until those words left his mouth. He didn't take into account that, regardless if Heidi embraced his true gender or not, she'd still be in a world of danger. For now the world, or better put, his enemies, would know that the great and powerful SheZow now had lover that they could use to get to her. True, Heidi was by no means a damsel in distress, as was clear during Krang's attack on Norrisville, but Guy still didn't want to run the risk of putting her in danger.

Just then, SheZow's Infinity League communicator went off. As he took it out to answer it, Maz and Kelly remained silent so as not to let anyone on the other end of the line discover the secret connection they had with Shezow. Guy checked to see who was calling him and saw that it was Kim.

"What's going on, Kim?" he asked in his fellow leader in his SheZow voice.

"We just got a hit on a break-in at Axiom Labs in Amity Park," Kim said, "It was SheZap."

Guy's breath was caught in his chest as fear took hold of him. SheZap was his dark clone that he inadvertently created when he bit off a broken nail and accidentally spit it into a vat of chemical waste. The toxic waste mixed with the magical energy that SheZow was endowed with gave birth to the evil version of the Glamazon warrior, SheZap. As a clone of SheZow, SheZap was endowed with most of the powers and gear that Guy had, along with a few new abilities that she learned through self-training. SheZow had quite the list of villains, but none scared him the way SheZap did.

"We've been going over the footage. Looks like SheZap managed to sneak past the labs security systems via her shadow travel," Kim continued. "The guards that were on duty tried to stop her, but they didn't stand a chance. Thankfully, she didn't kill any of them, but she did put at least five of them in critical condition before making off with some tech."

"Wait, Shezap stole something?" Guy questioned. "That's not like her at all."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked.

"SheZap's only ever been about spreading chaos, she's never been about stealing anything before," SheZow explained. "It's just not her M.O."

"Well, it is now, apparently," his teammate confirmed. "We're still trying to figure what exactly she stole. All we know is that it's some old tech from back when Vlad Masters owned the facility."

"You guys need me to come in and help out?" SheZow inquired. "I can have Wheeljack teleport me to your current location."

"Don't bother, SheZap's already long gone and was pretty good at covering her tracks," Kim declined. "Besides, I don't want to spoil your date tonight or I'd never hear the end of it from Heidi."

"Well, keep me posted if you find out anything new," the fellow League Leader insisted.

"Will do," Kim assured. "Have a good time tonight!"

With that, Kim hung up, leaving Guy with a new moral dilemma: Either stay on the date and let SheZap run free, or cancel it and go look for his evil clone. On one hand, if he took off to help in the hunt for SheZap, Heidi would be understanding of his actions. She knew what she was getting into when she got into a relationship with the superhero and wouldn't condemn her lover for doing her job. But on the other hand, Guy hated the idea of standing up the woman he loved, and a part of him only wanted to hunt down SheZap just so it could use an an excuse to avoid his talking with her lover.

"I know what you're thinking," Kelly spoke up. "And you're NOT ducking out of this date."

"Wait, your telling me NOT to go after Shezap?" her twin sibling replied, generally confused by the comment. "That's so not like you."

"You heard Kim. You couldn't find Shezap even if you were there with them," Kelly reminded him. "Besides, the League can handle this."

She then placed a hand on her sibling's shoulder.

"And you need this," Kelly continued. "Because you're right. If you don't tell her now, then you never will."

"Thanks, Kelly," Guy replied before embracing her for a tight hug.

He then took out his commutator and handed it to her.

"Just so I won't be tempted," he said.

With one more hug between the twins, the pink-powered heroine walked over to her vehicle before getting in and switching it to its jet form. SheZow then fired up the rockets and launched into the sky. At the speed the She-C-10 flew, it would take Guy roughly an hour and a half to get to Norrisville. Not wanting to sit in silence and be left with his thoughts, Guy turned on the radio to listen to some music. However, it would seem that the universe wanted to have its fun with him.

 ** _THAT, THAT, DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY-_**

"That's not helping," Guy mentioned as he switched the station.

 ** _I MET A BOY WEARING VANS, 501'S AND A DOPE BEASTIE TEE, NIPPLE RINGS-_**

"Are you kidding me?" SheZow growled before switching the station again.

 ** _I'M JUST A SWEET TRANSVESTITE FROM TRANSSEXUAL, TRANSYLVANIA-_**

"Oh, fuck you!" Guy exclaimed before switching off the radio.

It was going to be a long, silent, flight.

* * *

Heidi couldn't keep herself from smiling as she straightened her hair in front of the mirror. Despite the fact that she had gone on many dates with her super-powered lover, this would be the first date they would have that would be in public. The redhead would be lying if she said that wasn't nervous about tonight, considering that this would mean that the world would discover that one of the leaders of the Infinity League was gay, which would no doubt rub certain people and religious groups the wrong way. Heidi could hardly care about what the ignorant had to say, but she was well aware that the public's opinion on SheZow may change for just her sexual orientation alone. However, it might not be all bad, considering that perhaps SheZow coming out would do some good for people who truly needed it.

In the time she been with the Glamazon warrior, she had come to learn things about her lover that were not known to the general public. For instance, the ring that gave the line of SheZow their powers was not only magical, but also cosmic in nature. While the pink-powered heroine didn't know the exact details, what was known was that millions of years ago, the first SheZow found a meteorite that fell to Earth and was endowed with its power. It wasn't until much later that the meterorite was forged into a ring. The ring also was able to unlock the wearer's latent meta-gene, thus giving them their array of powers. Not only that, but the ring managed to download and save the powers in unlocked from previous SheZows' and pass it onto the next generation. For instance, the SheZow Heidi was dating had unlocked the power to talk to animals, so when the time came for her to retire, or worse, die, her niece would also gain that power when she put on the ring.

Heidi always found it odd that the ring was only passed down from aunt to niece, but according to her lover, it didn't necessarily have to be that way. The ring was coded to the bloodline of SheZow since the cavewoman who was their ancestor was the first to touch the rock those centuries ago, making the ring useless to those who didn't share the first SheZow's bloodline. As for the reason for the ring being passed from aunts to nieces, it was the niece of the first bearer of the ring that took it after her childless aunt had died from her wounds sustained from a brutal fight with a monster. From then on, it became a tradition that the aunt would pass the legacy down to the niece and so on and so fourth. However, SheZow did say that it was possible for anyone who shared the same DNA as her to wear the ring.

Just then, Heidi's train of thought was stopped when she heard the sound of a knock at her door. Her parents were out for the night, which only meant one person who would be disturbing her at the moment. With an angry sigh, Heidi turned away from her mirror and stormed over to her bedroom door before throwing it open to reveal her brother, Howard, standing there.

It had been a few months since her brother had merged his soul with the psychotic red-clad reaper known as Grell Sutcliff, **[4]** and the young reporter still had a hard time wrapping her head around it. As the other protector of Norrisville whenever the Ninja was away, Grell was the city's more brutal guardian, usually leaving criminals in the ER with a few limbs missing. Heidi wanted to tell the League, as well as their parents, about Grell and his violent actions, but due to his connection to her younger brother, she feared that he'd be punished for the reaper's actions.

"What the juice do you want, Howard?" she demanded. "I'm kinda in the middle of getting ready for a date here!"

"Grell asked if you wanted, ugh, beauty tips," Howard forced himself to say.

"Well, you can tell that psycho living in your head that I don't need his help!" his older sister declined sharply.

'Hmph, well I never!' Grell snapped angrily from within Howard's mind.

'And you never do,' Howard mentally replied.

'Quite you!' Grell snapped back.

"Anyway, don't you have a patrol tonight or something?" Heidi questioned.

"Nah, we decided on a personal day," Howard answered before asking. "So, when are you going to be back home tonight?"

"Why do you care?" his sister demanded.

"Well, shockingly, I do care about your well being," Howard said. "You are dating a chick who's basically a goddess. Kinda cause for some alarm if you ask me."

Heidi was taken aback by that statement. The relationship between the Weinerman siblings had always been an antagonistic one, what with them constantly picking on one another every chance they got. But to hear that Howard was genuinely concerned about her well-being touched her heart. Aside from the League, who managed to figure out her relationship after the battle with the villain known as Brightburn, [3] Howard was the only other person who knew about her relationship with SheZow. She wanted to tell her parents time and again about her pink-powered lover, but she couldn't bring herself to come out to them out of fear of how they'd react.

"Thanks, Howard," she said gently. "But I doubt SheZow's the type of woman to break a person's heart."

"Well, if she does break your heart, then Grell and I are gonna rip her's out," her brother swore, as his eyes flashes red for a moment. "I'm deadly serious."

"Relax, you two, it's not going to come to-" Heidi attempted to say.

The young reporter's words were cut off when she saw a pair of black and green gloves reaching out from the shadow on the wall behind Howard. Heidi screamed in horror as the the arms suddenly grabbed Howard by his shoulders and tossed him down the hall, knocking him unconscious upon hitting the wall. With her brother out of the way, the rest of the villain's body emerged from the wall.

"Oh my god..." Heidi gasped. "SheZap."

"Bingo, toots," the dark clone said with a dark smile as she stepped closer to the young reporter.

"W-what do you want?" Heidi stammered out.

"Ain't it obvious?" the villainess replied.

Suddenly, the twisted clone lunged forward, making Heidi scream in terror.

* * *

As Guy transformed his vehicle into its car form so he could park in front of the Wenierman's house, his danger sense, or as it was called, his She-SP, went off like a fire alarm in his mind. Wasting no time, SheZow jumped out of the car and flew up to Heidi's room where he threw up the bedroom window and climbed inside. As he surveyed the room, Guy didn't see any signs of a struggle, but he could sense that something as wrong.

"Heidi!" he called out. "Where are you?!"

The Glamazon warrior was so focused on finding his lover that he nearly ignored his She-SP warning him that danger was creeping up behind him. Acting quickly, SheZow activated his laser lipstick and blocked the sudden chainsaw that was coming down on him. The owner of said chainsaw appeared to be a red-clad woman, though it was clear that it was really a man making himself look like a woman, something Guy was very familiar with.

"Who the hell are you?!" the pink-powered heroine demanded. "And what have you done with Heidi?!"

"I should be asking you the same question, pinky!" the red-clad maniac answered. "I find you here in her room after some freak from the shadows blindsided me!"

Guy's eyes widened in horror upon hearing those words spoken. He instantly knew who had come and taken his girlfriend. His worst nightmare had become reality, and now she was at the mercy of his clone.

"Oh god, SheZap has Heidi!" Guy voiced his realization.

"Uh, She-who?" the stranger inquired, backing off as he did.

"My evil clone," SheZow clone. "She must have found out that Heidi and I are together and kidnapped her in order get to me!"

"So, in other words, this is your fault," the red dressed stranger pointed out.

"I can do without the criticism right now!" the heroine snapped back. "Who are you anyway?"

"Why, I'm Grell Sutcliff: reaper extraordinaire!" the stranger introduced.

"Gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're the nut-job who's been putting people in the ER around here," SheZow surmised. "How do I know that you aren't working with SheZap?"

"Because he's attacked the innocent, and while I could hardly give a shit before, I've had something of a...new lease on life," Grell explained. "Besides, something tells me that you're going to need some backup."

Guy hated to admit it, but the reaper was right. The one time he didn't bring his communicator was the time he needed it the most. True, he couldn't trust Grell, but right now he couldn't be picky with his backup right now.

"Fine, but we do this my way, got it?" SheZow ordered.

"Fair enough," Grell agreed with an eye roll. "Lead the way, fearless leader."

Just as the new team were about to leave the room, Guy stopped when he made another realization.

"Wait, where's Heidi's little brother?" he asked.

"Oh, that kid?" Gell answered a bit to quickly. "I saw him running down the street when I got here like a chubby little coward."

'Wow, fuck you to,' Howard mentally commented dryly.

SheZow only nodded in response to that. He didn't have time to check on Howard, but at least he was safe.

"So, do you have a plan?" the reaper question. "Kinda hard to catch a guy who can travel through shadows."

"I have an idea," the Glamazon warrior assured. "And I think you might like it."

* * *

Heidi didn't know where she was due to the fact that once SheZap had grabbed her, he blindfolded her before taking her into the shadows. Even though she couldn't see her surroundings, she could smell a foul stench in the air, like raw sewage. Suddenly, her blindfold was ripped off to reveal her new surroundings. It was deep in a sewer system, but the the room she was currently inside had been remodeled as a twisted version of SheZow's HQ. Heidi tried to move, but quickly discovered that she was unable to move due to the fact that she was tied down to an old wheelchair. It was then that SheZap stepped in front of her, all the way having a dark smile on her face.

"Sorry if the place is a mess, I've been remolding lately," SheZap said.

"Whatever you're up to, SheZow will stop you!" her captive proclaimed.

"Wow, right out the gate with that nonsense, huh?" the clone commented. "Do you even know what I'm up to?"

"It doesn't matter, because you won't-" Heidi attempt to say.

"Won't what? Get away with it?" SheZap cut her off snidely. "The only thing I'm trying to get way with trying is live to see the next day!"

"What are you talking about, you sicko?" the ginger demanded.

Before SheZap could answer her, someone stepped out of one of the sewer tunnels within the make-shift lair. It was a portly, middle-aged woman wearing glasses with short black hair and dressed in a brown coat with tan pants. Heidi instantly recognized the newcomer as one of Kim Possible's enemies known as DNAmy. A mad geneticist with a knack for creating hybrid monstrosities.

"I told you not to leave the base while I was working," the woman began. "If you wanted my help, then you should at least heed my advice."

It was then that the madwoman saw the new addition among them.

"Uh, who's this?" she asked, confused.

"This, good doctor, is SheZow's girlfriend," SheZap answered.

"SheZow's what?!" DNAmy exclaimed. "Do you WANT to bring your better half down on us before you're ready for her?"

SheZap suddenly grabbed her partner by throat and lifted her into the air.

"You should be less worried about what SheZow's going to do you and be more worried about what I'm going to you if you don't follow my orders!" the clone threatened.

"Got it, boss!" her cohort managed to choke out before being tossed to the ground.

"Good," SheZap snarled. "Now then, take our guest to your lab and get what you need from her. But I want her unharmed, understood?"

"Wait, what do you need me for?!" Heidi asked in a panic.

SheZap was about to answer, but before she could, she suddenly doubled-over and began to cough furiously. As she did, dark green veins began to form around on her face and neck. After the coughing fit was over, SheZap finally addressed her question.

"You think I'm a sicko, right?" she asked back. "Well, I'm sick alright. Very sick, in fact."

She then leaned into Heidi face.

"And your girlfriend is gonna help me, or else she'll be burying what's left you," she furthered in a dark tone.

Heidi was too scared to make a sound as DNAmy began to wheel her away. However, at the same time, she felt a strange sense of pity for the clone.

* * *

If SheZow and her new partner were to get the answers they sought, then they had to go to the one person who might have an idea as to where SheZap would be hiding. While SheZap had a preference to work alone, there was a brief time that the darker side of the Glamazon warrior allied herself with another one of SheZow's major enemies, Tara. Tara was a mentally unstable woman who use to be a former heroine who worked with Guy's aunt when she still wielded the ring. Sadly, jealousy and fading into obscurity took its toll on the woman's mind, driving her mad. In her quest to destroy SheZow, she allied herself with her dark counterpart in several attempts to destroy her, but the alliance didn't last long and Tara was soon captured and sent back to the asylum.

The trip required the duo to return to to Megadale, but SheZow's jet made it a quick trip back to Australia. The trip was silent. (well, at least on Guy's end anyway. Grell wouldn't shut up for thirty seconds.) The secretly male hero could only think about finding Heidi alive. He could only imagine what SheZap would want with her or what she was doing to his lover now. How could she have known about Heidi at all? They had kept their relationship a secret from the public, so how could have his most dangerous enemy discovered his girlfriend? He couldn't get an answer at the moment, but he was certainly going to get them out of Tara, even if he had to beat them out of her.

Once they arrived at the asylum, SheZow put the plane in a stationary mode before opening up the cargo hold to allow the unlikely team to leap out before smashing into the wall of the cell that was holding Tara, who was laying in bed reading a book when they broke in. Before Tara could register what was going on, SheZow yanked her out of her bed and pinned her up against another wall by her shirt.

"Here's what's going to happen, Tara," Guy began in a fierce voice. "Either you tell me where SheZap is hiding, or my red dressed friend here is going to take a lot off the top! And that's after I break every bone in your body!"

To get the point across, Grell revved up his chainsaw deathsyche to show they weren't playing games. But, rather than opt for silence, Tara was quick to answer their demands.

"She said you'd show up," Tara said. "She told me to tell you where to find her."

"Then tell me," the Galamzon warrior demanded.

"She's living in an old sewer system underneath the Megadale city limits," Tara answered.

"You think she's lying?" Grell asked. "I can really get her to talk."

"No, she's telling the truth," SheZow confirmed, dropping her enemy as she did. "Let's go."

"Oh, one more thing, SheZow", Tara mentioned. "She told me to send you a message."

SheZow stopped and turned to hear what her enemy could possible say to her.

"The SheZow who laughs is the SheZow who wins," Tara said. "And she beat you before long before you even realized it."

Guy glared at the madwoman before turning away and heading back to his jet, all the while Tara cackled madly the whole time.

* * *

After being wheeled into DNAmy's lab, Heidi was still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation that she was currently in. She still had no idea has to how SheZap figured out about her and SheZow's relationship, but right now she was more concerned with what the two villains wanted with her. It was then that she saw the mad scientist approach her with a rather large syringe.

"Now don't worry," DNAmy assured. "SheZap said not to hurt you, so you're safe."

"The giant needle in your hand says otherwise!" Heidi said as she began to panic in the wheelchair. "Let me go!"

"Now don't struggle. Wouldn't want me to hit something vital by accident, would we?" her captor advised, making Heidi stop "Good girl, now then..."

DNAmy then stuck her needle into Heidi's arm to draw out a small amount of blood before carefully removing the syringe.

"See? that wasn't so bad, was it?" the geneticist said.

"Why does SheZap want with my blood?" her hostage demanded. "And why is she sick?"

"Well, she's not so much sick as she is dying," DNAmy pointed out. "Her genetic make-up is breaking down on a cellular level. Every time she uses her powers, she speeds up the process."

"I guess that's what happens what happens when you make a freak of nature out of magic and toxic waste," Heidi coldly chided before adding "I don't see what that has to do with my blood."

"Oh, it has nothing to do with your blood. SheZap has something else in mind for it," the madwoman answered.

"I still don't understand how you got tied up into this," Heidi noted. "If I remember right, you make monsters, not fix clones."

"I know, and that's what I told her," DNAmy replied. "But I guess since she couldn't get her hands on someone like Anton Sevarius or Dr. Paradigm, she settled for me instead."

"In other words: She kidnapped you," Heidi surmised.

"Well, it's not like I'm doing all this because I like her," the madwoman noted.

"So, she's forcing you to find a way to cure her," the ginger reasoned.

"She's not curing anything," came a voice.

The two women turned around to see SheZap enter the lab. The dark green veins had vanished for now, but Heidi could still see a smear of blood tickling down from her lips.

"Now, admittedly, I did 'recruit' Amy to find a cure at first, but sadly, there was no way I could be saved. Even if I had a transfusion from my better half, it would only prologue the inevitable. But during her research, we made a rather interesting discovery. It turns out that my blood can alter the physical and mental state of anyone it comes in contact with, driving them as crazy as me!"

Heidi was horrified by what she was hearing from the mad clone. She knew that SheZap was insane, but she didn't think she'd go to such lengths as these.

"It was in that moment I had an epiphany. Since I'm walking bio-weapon, and not meant for this world much longer, I decided to go out with a bang, baby! I'm going to infect the entire Infinity League with my blood and then kick back with a dry martini and watch as the the world's greatest heroes tear this whole fucking planet apart like a bunch of rabid weasels!"

"You're a monster!" Heidi shot back defiantly. "SheZow will stop you!"

"Stop me? he couldn't even stop me from stealing his girlfriend!" SheZap said with a wicked laugh.

Before Heidi could could answer back, the clone's words caught her off guard.

"Why are you referring to SheZow as a guy?" she asked.

"Oh that's right, she didn't tell you, did she?" SheZap said slyly with a wicked smirk. "Well, get ready, toots, because I'm about to drop a massive spoiler!"

With a sudden flash of bright green light, SheZap revealed her true self to Heidi. Instead of a woman standing before her, it was a boy with sickly green skin and green highlights in his brown hair. SheZap smiled wickedly as he allowed the young reporter to take in the sight before her.

"No! This is a trick!" Heidi denied, shutting her eyes to keep from looking at him.

"I'm a near perfect copy of SheZow, remember?" SheZap reminded her. "This isn't a trick, babe, this is reality."

Heidi couldn't stop herself from letting tears fall from her eyes as the truth stood before her. She hated to admit it, but SheZap was right. SheZow, the woman she loved, had been lying to her all this time about who she truly was. Suddenly, the villain's lair shook violently, a clear indication that SheZow had arrived.

"Right on cue," SheZap mentioned as she switched back to her superpowered self. "Get out of here, doc. You've got work to do."

Not wasting any time, DNAmy quickly gathered up her equipment and the vial of Heidi's blood before making her way down one of the many tunnels within the sewer system, all the while the villain's liar continued to shake violently as the superhero tore her way though wall after wall to get to her enemy. Finally, with one last punch through a wall revealed SheZow with a deep, pensive glare at her wicked doppelganger.

"Oh, you made it, I'm so thrilled," SheZap greeted with a dark chuckle before gesturing to Heidi. "Here's your lovely lady. Completely unharmed, though I say that in the sense that's she's psychically unharmed. Mentally speaking might be a different story."

"I am going to rip you in half!" SheZow shouted furiously.

"Oh, now that I'd love to see," her dark doppelganger teased. "Let's see if you can back it up!"

In a blink of an eye, SheZow rocketed toward her clone at a speed not even Heidi though possible before grabbing SheZap and slamming her into a wall. With her enemy pinned, Guy attempted to deliver a punch toward SheZap face. However, before the blow could connect, SheZap sank into the shadows of the wall, leading to Guy only punch a hole instead. SheZap then re-materialized behind her better half with her own energy sword in hand. Thankfully, Guy's danger sense warned her of the oncoming attack, allowing him to block the sword with her own. The two clashed with their blades again, sending sparks from their swords with every strike as they did. As they dueled, SheZap kept a sly smile on her face while Guy's visage was one of pure rage and fury. Shezap then ended the sword fight with a swift kick to SheZow's torso that sent her flying backwards. Guy quickly jumped back to his feet and unleashed a sonic scream that knocked his clone off balance, giving him enough time to dart forward and deliver a series of devastating punches that probably could've killed a normal human being.

However, as SheZow was so wrapped up in her rage, SheZap managed to block one of the punches before countering with one of her own that struck Guy in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him in the process. With her enemy stunned, SheZap then grabbed her better half by the hair before striking Guy in the face with one punch after another. SheZap then finished the assault by slamming SheZow's face into her knee and tossing her to the ground. SheZap attempted to stomp her boot through Guy's face, but thankfully, the Glamazon warrior managed to grab her boot and push it off his person, allowing him to get back to his feet.

As SheZap tried to regain her balance, Grell suddenly leaped out of the shadows with his chainsaw in hand, laughing maniacally as he did. SheZap narrowly avoided a swipe of the reaper's deathscythe as she jumped back away from the unlikely partners.

"Well, look at the three of us, a regular drag show," SheZap mocked. "Who's your new friend?"

"The name's Grell Sutcliff!" the reaper declared. "And who are you calling drag show, skank?!"

"Couldn't fight me without some back up, huh?" SheZap asked her enemy. "I'm little disappointed in you."

"Your not getting away this time, SheZap!" SheZow shouted as she reignited her sword.

"Like you haven't said that before," the clone answered, reactivating her own sword as she did.

Grell and Shezow rushed toward SheZap with their weapons at the ready. The duo attacked in unison, trying to get the clone off balance, but SheZap managed to keep to keep pace with them, blocking and parrying every slash from the sword and chainsaw. However, as the duel went on, Guy noticed that something was different about dark counterpart. He could see beads of sweat drop from her face as dark green veins started to form on her face and neck. No doubt feeling the change, SheZap suddenly used her own sonic scream to knock SheZow and Grell away from her. It didn't long for SheZow to figure out that something was seriously wrong with her dark clone.

"I hate to cut this sort, but I need to sit down before I pull something," SheZap said before coughing. "Besides, I've got something big planned, and I want you to see, sis!"

Shezap then began to sink into the shadows, to which Guy attempted to rush over and try to grab her before she could do so. But just before he could reach her, SheZap managed to slip into the shadows, leading to SheZow to let out an enraged cry as she began to violently punch the ground where her enemy had escaped into. With his clone once more in the wind, Guy focused his attention to Heidi, who was still tied up. Calming himself down, Guy went to her side and untied his lover, who all the while had a look of betrayal in her eyes.

"Did she hurt you?" he asked.

"N-no, I'm fine," Heidi assured weakly. "DNAmy is working with SheZap. She had her take some of my blood."

"For what?" SheZow asked.

"I don't know, but right now we have to warn the Infinity League," his lover informed him. "Shezap's going to try to infect the League with some kind of virus made from her blood!"

"Then let's get going," the pink-powered heroine said before taking her hand into his. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Heidi instantly pulled her hand away from Guy's like she had touched a hot stove, leaving her over confused.

"Are you okay?" the heroine asked.

In that moment, Heidi was speechless. There was so much that she wanted to say to the woman that she thought she knew. How could she betray her like this? She may have been bisexual, but that didn't negate the fact that the person she was in love with was someone who had been lying about her gender all this time. However, there were more things at stake to her that mattered more than her relationship.

"It's...it's nothing," she finally said. "We need to get back to the Tower and warn the League."

Still feeling as though something was wrong, SheZow only nodded in agreement before looking back at Grell.

"Let's go, nut-job," she ordered.

"Ugh, finally. All this dry air is making my hair frizz out," the reaper whined before asking. "So, does this mean I'm a part of the League?"

"Not by a long shot," SheZow denied. "Your reward is that I forget to mention you in my report to the League and let you go this time out of thanks for helping me. But don't think for a second I won't haul your ass to prison the next time we meet."

"Fine! I didn't want to be a part of your club anyway!" Grell spat. "I'll find some other team to be a part of!"

'Way to be mature, Grell,' Howard noted in the reaper's head.

As the trio left the remains of SheZap's base, neither Guy nor his girlfriend could shake the uneasiness that they both felt about the future. Not only because of the revelation that Heidi had, but also of the fear of the unknown as SheZap had gotten away to make her next move.

* * *

The moment SheZap rose from the shadows of his true lair, he immediately coughed up a mouth full of blood. He knew that it was a bad idea to try and fight his better half, but he needed a sample of SheZow's DNA to make a vaccine to slow her degeneration. Plus, it was just too much fun not to try and get in a few blows before running off.

Once the coughing fit ceased, SheZap made her way into the base where she found DNAmy working on her latest project. The equipment that SheZap had stolen from Axiom Labs was the cloning tech that Vlad Masters once used to try and create a perfect clone of Danny Phantom, which in turn lead to the creation of a heroic, female version of him instead. However, rather than try to clone something superhuman, the doppelganger had something different in mind for cloning pods.

"How's it looking?" she asked.

"Excellent! The samples took to the DNA sequencer better than I expected," DNAmy answered.

"That's good," SheZap said. "And here I was ready to rip your head off."

Amy gulped at that before speaking again.

"Well, everything's ready if you want to get started," she informed her.

"Not yet," the doppelganger declined as she showed her the blood of her enemy on her glove. "First, I need you to synthesize another vaccine for me."

"But you know these aren't curing you!" Amy pointed out.

"I know, but I wanna be at least live long enough to see the fruits of my labor," the clone explained. "I didn't spend months putting my plan in action for nothing."

"Your still planning on infecting the League?" Amy inquired.

"Oh, there's no 'planning,' Amy," SheZap replied "I've already started!"

DNAmy stood in stunned silence as Shezap began to laugh wickedly. SheZap wasn't just the SheZow who laughs, but now she was the SheZow who won.

* * *

 **[1] - As seen in the seventh Spotlight centered around Jazz.**

 **[2] - As seen in the eighth Spotlight centered around Heidi.**

 **[3] - As seen in the previous Spotlight centered around Brightburn.**

 **[4] - As seen in the ninth Spotlight centered around Howard.**


	13. Wendy Corduroy

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Wendy Corduroy: Pit of Vipers

* * *

It had been about a month since Wendy and the others were forced to be benched from the League, and after a week, she was already sick of it. **[1]** Ever since she had been suspended, the redhead suddenly realized just how dull her life was without having the Pines Twins in it. True, she and Mason were still in a relationship after everything, but the twins' duty to the League meant they had to spend more time on the Tower. Aside from going to school and helping Melody take care of the Mystery Shack when Soos was away at Skward Tower, the only other thing that Wendy did was meet with the other benched heroes at Steven's house to discuss the meaning behind their dreams, but the ginger was starting to notice that the group was starting to become more of a self-help group than a group trying to find answers.

If Wendy was being honest with herself, the more that she had these dreams, the more she starting to feel at peace with the being that was calling out to her. Granted, she was pretty sure that her boyfriend felt the same thing when Bill sweet talked him into taking control of his body, so she knew that this whole thing was more than likely too good be true. However, after seeing how the others talked about how they didn't want these powers, it was becoming clear to Wendy that she was probably the only one who could not only contain that power, but also have the willpower to control it as well.

She'd be lying to herself if she didn't think about losing said control over that power, but she knew Mason would be there to take her down the moment things became too much for her. It broke her heart to ask her lover to carry out this task should it come to it, but she knew that he needed to do so to protect the wold from her should it come to that.

Currently, Wendy was at the Gravity Falls Diner waiting for her boyfriend to join her on a dinner date. It was nothing major, just to catch up after not being able to see each other for the past three days. As she waited at the bar table for her lover, she heard the sound of someone coming up behind her. Thinking that it was Dipper, she turned around to greet him, but instead of seeing her boyfriend, she was instead met with her long-time friend, Tambry.

"Where the hell have you been, Wendy?" Tambry began in a harsh tone. "None of us have seen you in weeks!"

The cover story for whenever Wendy was away for a mission with the League was that she was trying out homeschooling. With the team's big brains' help, they manipulated certain files to back this claim so the school wouldn't become too suspicious. They still received their proper teachings from Professor Utonium or Dr. Wakeman, who held classes on the tower for those who needed it. It also helped that Wendy's father was aware that his daughter was secretly the heroine Lumberjane after she told him that she had joined the Infinity League. However, her cover story kept her from seeing her friends.

"Uh, hey, Tam," Wendy greeted meekly. "Yeah, I've just been busy AF lately. You know, homeschooling, work, all that junk."

"Were you to busy too be at Thompson's funeral?" her friend questioned sharply.

Wendy looked away in shame. She was telling the truth when she said that she was busy the day of Thompson's funeral, just not the whole truth. The full truth was that she was busy fighting alongside the League in order keep the Inhumanoid known as Tendril from stealing plutonium for his master, Metlar. It broke her heart when she heard the news that Thompson was murdered in his sleep, but what was odd was the details of his death.

According to police reports, Thompson had his organs pulled out from his mouth, something was psychically impossible. The whole ordeal sounded very close to the odd string of murders that happened in the 80's and 90's in Springwood, Ohio that were said to have been caused by being from the victims dreams. It was also disturbing to note that since Thompson's death there had been several other unexplained murders across the U.S., something that the League had been looking into, but found nothing so far. **[2]**

"I swear I wanted to be there Tambry, but I was so caught up with work that day that I-" the redhead attempted to explain.

"Save it," Tambry coldly cut her off. "I thought Thompson mattered to you, but I guess this new job you have is all that's important."

Before Wendy would further explain herself, Tambry stormed off, leaving her best friend feeling crushed on the inside. In that moment, she wanted to run up to her childhood friend and tell her everything that she had kept hidden from her, and chances are that she'd believe her, considering the insanity that goes on in Gravity Falls. But she relented, knowing that she'd be putting her friends in danger if she did. Besides, Tambry wasn't exactly the best at keeping secret.

"Ain't easy being a superhero, is it?" came a voice from behind her.

Wendy turned around to see her former boss, Stan Pines, standing before her. Stan didn't have to say anything. She already knew what his meant fo her date.

"He's not coming, is he?" Wendy said, clearly disappointed.

"I'm sorry, kid," Stan apologized on his grand-nephew's behalf. "The League's got him tied up with training and guard duty."

Wendy let out a deflated sigh at that, making Stan almost want to tell the teen about what Mason was really up to at the moment right then and there. Mason wasn't on the Tower. He wasn't even carrying out anything League related. In truth, he was currently in east L.A. busting up some local street gangs in his villainous guise of the Red Talon in order to get Black Hat's attention, as was all a part of his plan to save Wendy from whatever it was that was reaching out to her in her dreams, something the League benched her and the others for without looking further into it. **[3]**

"Eh, it's cool," the redhead replied halfheartedly. "He's off training to be a hero. I can't fault him for doing what he loves."

"Yeah, right," Stan agreed, despite knowing the truth. "So, mind if I join you?"

"Sure," his former employee accepted. "But you're buying."

"I was afraid you'd say that," the old con-artist said as he sat down. "Just order something cheap, alright? I'm not made of money."

Wendy gave him a sardonic look back at him.

"Okay, I am, but I ain't spending more than twenty bucks in this dump!" her former boss informed her.

As advised, Wendy only ordered a small sandwich while Stan got himself a tuna melt. The redhead was impressed that her former boss was more than willing to pay for her food, considering what a cheapskate Stan could be. If any good came out of Bill's invasion of Gravity Falls, it was that it opened the old grouch's heart and made him care about his fellow man...Well, more like the six people who called his family.

As the two friends ate their dinner, Wendy noticed a sight that soon caught her full attention. Sitting in one of the booths was a young girl, no older than five, laughing and playing with something Wendy had little experience with: A mother. The teen's distraction soon caught the attention of her elderly friend.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm good," Wendy quickly assured. "It was just...seeing that kid with her mom reminded me of my mother...or lack thereof."

"You know, I don't think you've ever talked about your mom," Stan noted.

"That's because I hardly knew her," Wendy answered. "She ditched the family when I about three years old. She had my brothers and then bounced just like that."

"You ever tried to find her?" her former boss inquired.

"I tried a couple times when I was younger, but Dad didn't like to talk about her. He doesn't show it, but I think it hurt him way more than he lets on," Wendy replied. "Later on I gave up trying to find out anything about her. I kinda figured that if she didn't want to be in my life then why should I waste my time trying to be in her's, ya know?"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Wendy," Stan responded.

"Nah, it's cool. At least I'm not like some five years old asking dad 'when's Mommy coming home?'" Wendy brushed off. "Everything she could have taught me I taught myself. I learned to do my make-up without her, I learned how to shave, I learned how to drive and I learned how to get over my first break-up without her help. I'm sixteen years old, she hasn't even sent me damn card!"

Wendy's building rage suddenly boiled over as she suddenly slammed her fist on the table.

"To Hell with her!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Everyone's eyes in the diner fell upon the red-haired teen, but she didn't care. The tears were falling freely from her eyes as she found herself weeping over the past memories of the mother who wasn't a part of her life. Seeing that his younger friend was a wreck, Stan quickly paid for the dinner before gently taking Wendy outside.

"I-I'm sorry," the teen apologized as she wiped her tears away. "That was dumb."

"Don't worry about it, Wendy," Stan assured. "Besides, your little emotional roller coaster got me a 30% discount on our dinner."

"It's just...what kind of parent just leaves their kid like that?" she asked.

Stan's face suddenly became forlorn upon hearing that, confusing the teen the process. However, before he could speak, something struck the old con-artist in the back of the neck. At first, he assumed that it was a bee sting, but when when he pulled what he thought was the stinger out of his neck, he discovered that it wasn't a bee sting, but a small dart with a red snake symbol on it.

The insignia of Cobra.

Before he could say anything to warn Wendy, the drugs in the dart had taken affect and caused the old man to collapse to the ground. When Wendy quickly rushed to Stan's aid and tried to see what was wrong with him, she too was struck in the neck by a dart. As the fast-acting drugs began to overtake her body, the last thing she saw where a pair of Cobra Crimson Guards approach them before their commanding officer, Major Bludd, walk up to them.

"Sir, the target is sedated, but what should we do with the witness?" one of the Crimson Guards inquired.

"Bring them both just to be safe," Bludd ordered. "I want to know how much they each know."

Wendy's vision began to darken just as the Crimson Guards were starting to reach down toward her.

* * *

Wendy's eyes snapped open as she jumped to her feet, which she instantly regretted when she felt a strong feeling of nausea in her stomach. No doubt a side affect of whatever drugs she had been pumped full from the dart that hit her. Fighting through the sickness she felt, Wendy took in her new surroundings. She was in a holding cell, but not one of Cobra's high-tech prison cells. This one was made of iron bars, which meant that she was either being held in an older base or that Bludd was using some run down facility as a make-shift base while he tried to get what he wanted out of her and Stan.

'Which begs the question,' she thought to herself. 'Where is Stan?'

She looked around the cell, but found not a single trace of her elderly friend. However, she did see a blonde haired woman dressed in a rags in the cell next to her sitting on the small wooden bed of her holding cell.

"Hey! Hey!" she called out to the woman to get attention. "Did you see an old guy when they brought me in?"

"I did, but they took him away to be interrogated," the fellow prisoner replied. "Knowing Bludd, your friend might end up dead by the time the Major's done with him."

Wendy mentally cursed herself for letting Stan get wrapped up in all of this. The only reason she could think of for Cobra wanting to kidnap them was that they somehow found out that she was Lumberjane and were now torturing Stan to find out more about her and if he knew the identities of other Infinity League members, which he obviously did. Wendy didn't have time to think about how Cobra managed to figure out how they they knew who she really was though. All that mattered to her was saving Stan and finding out if weather or not Cobra had compromised the identities of any other members of the League.

She quickly checked herself for anything she could use to escape. Obviously, they had already taken her phone and Wendy had stupidly left her communicator back in her bedroom since it wasn't like the League was going to call her anytime soon. Fortunately, she did manage to find a bobby-pin in her back pocket. The perfect tool to make her escape. Wendy had picked enough locks back when she hung with her friends to know what to do. It was an especially handy skill when she had been arrested by Blubbs and Durland. Her fellow prisoner watched as Wendy began to pick the lock on her cell door until it finally opened. However, instead of being impressed by the teen, she instead was frightened by what she had done.

"You fool!" the women chastised her. "You tripped the silent alarm on the cell door! The guards will be here any second!"

No sooner did the woman say that did three Cobra troopers burst into the holding cells. They were all armed with batons, but Wendy could see that they were dressed with their sidearms, though she guessed that they wouldn't use them on her just yet, at least until they got what they wanted out of her. Rather than cower before the guards, Wendy stood her ground in defiance to them. The guards didn't issue a warning for her to return to her cell. They instead rushed toward her with their weapons at the ready.

The first of the three guards swung his baton at the young heroine. She dodged and countered the attack by grabbing his wrist and clocking him in the jaw before kicking him in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards into the bars of one of the empty cells. The second guard tackled Wendy, but the moment the teen's back hit the ground, she used the guard's own inertia against him and instead flipped him over.

Just as Wendy got back to her feet, the third guard suddenly came up behind her and put his arms around her chest and arms to hold her in place as the the other two guards got back to their feet. Acting quickly, Wendy threw her head backwards, breaking the nose of the guard that was holding her, which in turn caused him to loosen his grip on her long enough for her to break out of his grip before kicking him in the groin to keep him down for the moment. The other two guards rushed toward their young captive, who had managed to snatch the first guard's baton off of the floor and cracked it across one of the two's guard's jaws, knocking him to the ground.

With another foe taken down for the moment, the teen hero turned her attention toward her next opponent. The final guard swung his baton wildly at Wendy, who dodged the attempted strikes on her person until she saw an opening to attack. She took her own baton and struck him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him as she did. To finish the job, she grabbed the guard by the back of his uniform while he was still doubled over in pain and flung the man head first into the bars of her former prison cell, knocking him out cold upon impact. She then noticed that the other guard she had hit in the face attempting to get back up, which she put a stop to with quick thump to the back of his head with her weapon to also knock him unconscious.

Just as Wendy had thought she had beaten her foes, she heard the sound of the safety of a gun being switched off. She turned around to see that the guard whose nose she had broken had gotten up and had drew his sidearm. But before he could fire a shot, the woman who was also being held captive suddenly reached out and grabbed the guard before pulling him backwards, slamming the back of his head against the bars of her cell to knock him out.

"Thanks," Wendy panted out, exhausted from her three on one fight.

"You were sloppy," the woman scolded. "You should've made sure that he was down before moving onto the next one."

"Well, excuse me, I was only fighting three guys at once while trying to keep them from calling for backup!" Wendy shot back. "Who the hell are you anyway, lady?"

"My name is Claire Harker. I'm an agent of the Global Justice Network," the woman introduced. "I was working deep undercover in Cobra before I was discovered."

"Do you know the insides of this base?" Wendy asked.

"From top to bottom," the GJN confirmed.

"Okay, good," the teen replied. "Listen, I can help you get out of here and back to Global Justice, but before I do, you've got to help me save my friend."

"The old man?" Claire gathered. "Forget him, he's probably dead already!"

"I don't believe that," Wendy refused. "Now you listen to me: If you don't agree to help me save Stan, then I will leave your ass here and not give it a second thought, got it?"

"But I'm an agent of the GJN!" Claire reminded her sharply.

"That's kinda the reason I'm thinking about leaving you here," the ginger admitted. "Knowing Dr. Director, she probably wanted you to dig up some shady shit from Cobra just so you guys could use it how you saw fit."

"How do you know Dr. Director?" Claire asked, taken aback by that statement.

"Because I'm a member of the Infinity League," Wendy answered. "Look, we can keep talking about this here as we wait for more guards to show up, or I get you out of here and we can get back to saving my friend. The choice is yours."

The GJN agent was surprised to hear that revelation, and admittedly Wendy was surprised with herself for even telling the woman about her superhero persona. On the other hand, Agent Harker might've already suspected something after seeing the teen take out three of Cobra's well-trained guards regardless, so it was best that she tell the agent now rather than just let her play twenty questions with the teen while they were trying to fight their way through the base to save Stan. In all honesty, those guards were a cakewalk compared to the demons she fought during Bill's Weirdmageddon, though this did give her a chance to try out some of the moves that Dipper had passed along to her from his teachings from April.

After finding the keys to Agent Harker's cell, Wendy let out her new ally, who immediately went over to one of the knocked out guards and took his sidearm before taking another and holding it out for Wendy to take.

"Nah, I'm good," the teen declined as she held up her baton. "I've got my weapon."

"You think that's going to stop gunfire?" Claire questioned. "Your 'no kill' hero-code isn't going to count for anything here!"

"I'm not killing anyone" Wendy stated firmly. "And neither are you. You can wound them, but the moment you kill one of these men, I'll drop you."

Rather than argue further with her, or even give the redhead a dirty look, Agent Harker instead gave her a her an expression that Wendy could almost swear was one of pride. With that, Claire took point as the two women headed out of the prison cells and into the rest of the base.

After checking the hallway for any other passing guards, the GJN agent gave an 'all clear' hand signal to Wendy before they slunk through the hall and went into a nearby empty storage room.

"What are we doing in here?" Wendy asked.

"There's no less than forty guards between us and the interrogation room," Claire explained as she began to move aside equipment. "Fortunately, there's an old sewer system that runs underneath the base. If we cross through here then we'll be able to reach your friend undetected."

Soon enough, Claire had pushed enough stuff aside to reveal a dusty old manhole cover. The GJN agent then gestured for Wendy to assist her in removing it. With the young heroine's help, they managed to quietly lift the cover and place it in front of the door to keep anyone from coming in.

"I hope you don't mind the smell," Claire mocked as she began to climb down the ladder into the sewer.

Wendy shot her partner a quick glare at her insult before following in after her. She knew GJN agents were arrogant and condescending, and this woman proved it. Wendy, like most of the League, didn't have a lot of love for the Global Justice Network. They didn't like the idea of an organization that worked in the shadows and, more often than not, were as bad as the people they fought in the name of justice. It was also no secret that, while Global Justice had no control over the Infinity League, everyone knew that they wanted some form of control over the team's actions. Then again, after how the team has been run as of late, maybe some oversight was needed. Wendy could't lie to herself that she was still bitter about the leaders' choice to bench her and the others because of these dreams without giving it a second thought. What if this was something serious? How could they at least not look further into this? At least she could count on her boyfriend, who could make the sacrifice should it come to it.

As the two unlikely allies climbed down into the sewers, Agent Harker drew her weapon and surveyed the area before giving Wendy the all clear for them to keep gong. While they neither of them expected to run into opposition down here, one could never be too careful when dealing with Cobra. They walked in silence for several moments until the Global Justice agent finally spoke up.

"So, are you really a member of the Infinity League?" she inquired curiously.

"Yep," Wendy confirmed simply. "Code name: Lumberjane."

"Your Lumberjane?" Claire questioned further. "I find that hard to believe."

"You know any other teenagers who can take on three Cobra guards and live?" the ginger reasoned smugly.

"It was two," the GJN agent corrected. "Don't forget that I took out the third."

"Fair point," Wendy agreed. "But I did fight all three of them."

"Why are you telling me all this anyway?" Claire pointed out. "The GJN don't have any control over the Infinity League, so you're basically your just giving away your secret identity to someone who, for all you know, could use this information to exploit you."

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm doing," Wendy assured. "Like you said earlier, Cobra's no joke, and the chances of me making it out of here alive are pretty slim. So, in case something happens, I need someone to tell my dad that his daughter died like a fighter and not as a coward. Plus, I may be on the outs with the League right now, but when they hear that I'm dead, they're going to rain down on Cobra like God on a bad day."

"That's...quite mature of you," Agent Harker admitted. "You're not like an average teenager."

"Trust me, when you grow up in Gravity Falls, you're not exactly going to have an average life," Wendy replied.

"You're from Gravity Falls?" the other woman asked, almost stunned by that.

"Yeah, you heard of the place?" the teen asked back. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course Global Justice knows about Gravity Falls. I bet you've guys have known about all the crazy shit that goes on in there since day one, right?"

"Uh, yes," Claire confirmed, albeit a bit to quickly for Wendy's taste.

"Right..." Wendy said before asking her own question. "So, since we're swapping secrets, what did Dr. Director send you undercover to get?"

"We've been getting reports that the Red Talon has been attacking Cobra's low-level weapons depots," the agent explained. "It's been part of a string of attacks he's been launching on low-level criminal hideouts."

That took Wendy by surprise. The Red Talon was by far one of the most dangerous opponents the League had ever faced, so to hear that he had resurfaced after months of laying low after stealing the Ecto-Bullet from the Fentons was distressing news. It was odd that, rather than go about his usual schemes of stealing certain objects that could harm the League, he was instead attacking small-time hoods and low-level Cobra bases. What could he be after? But more importantly, what was he planning?

"I was sent in to find out the connection between the Red Talon and Cobra," Claire furthered.

"You think the Red Talon is a rogue agent of Cobra?" Wendy asked.

"No, if he was, Cobra Commander would've put him down in a heartbeat. But the Commander is barley giving him an ounce of his time since he's not losing much in all this," the secret agent answered. "And it's not just Cobra that the Red Talon has been going after. He's been attacking drug cartels, gun-runners and other street groups. We're not sure if he's looking for something or trying to send a message to someone, but we're certain that he's planning something big."

Wendy nodded in agreement at that. No one knew what the masked madman's endgame was, but the League knew that, whatever it was, it had to be bad news. There was always something that bothered her about the unknown villain. When they fought back at the Fentons' home, Wendy noticed the slightest hint of hesitation from the Red Talon, as if he panicked for a moment at the sight of her, before he composed himself again. It was also interesting to note that, while the Red Talon had fought with the League, he hadn't killed anyone yet, despite having access to technology to do so.

Just then, Wendy's thoughts returned to the here and now when the GJN agent reached into her pocket and handed the teen a small case with a disk inside of it.

"Here," agent Harker said as she offered the disk to Wendy. "In case something happens to me, make sure you get this back to Global Justice. It's all the information I've managed to to gather on the Red Talon."

"How did you manage to hold onto this when Cobra found you out?" the younger girl asked as she put the disk away.

Rather than answer Wendy's question, Claire suddenly stopped in her tracks before pointing up. The teen looked up to see what she was pointing an saw and saw a small vent.

"That'll take us to closer to the interrogation room," the agent said. "I'll give you a boost up there."

As instructed, Wendy climbed up toward the vent with Claire's assistance. After pushing the vent aside, Wendy pulled herself into the upper levels. Once she had done that, she reached back down into the sewer in order to help pull up Claire. However, just as she had done so, she felt the barrel of a gun pressed up against the back of her head.

"Don't move," the solider standing behind her ordered firmly.

In the blink of an eye, Wendy spun around and cracked her baton across the solider's kneecap, breaking it on contact. The man let out a quick cry of pain before Wendy reached up and covered in mouth while at the same time holding him in a choke hold until he passed out. No doubt hearing the commotion, Claire called up to her young partner.

"You okay up there?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I'm good," the redhead called down. "Here, give me your hand."

After pulling Claire up into the base, the GJN instantly noticed the knocked out guard laying on the floor.

"What should we do with him?" she asked.

"This," Wendy answered simply before kicking the guard down the hole they had just crawled out of. "Let's go."

Surprised by how ruthless Wendy could be when the situation called for it, Claire nodded in approval to the ginger before taking point again as they headed further into the base, all the while sticking close to the shadows as they did.

"What is this place anyway?" Wendy questioned. "This doesn't look like a typical Cobra base."

"That's because it isn't," Agent Harker clarified. "This use to be a military outpost for the Allies during World War II until they packed up and moved to to a different location. Bludd is using it as a black site so he can carry out his dirty work in private."

That scared Wendy upon hearing that. From the League's files she had read about Bludd, she knew that she had only a limited amount of time to save Stan. The duo soon rounded a corner before backing up to peek to see a pair of guards standing in front of a room.

"That's the interrogation room," Claire whispered. "We'll have to move quickly and quietly if we're to take those two out."

"You got a plan?" Wendy whispered back.

"Hand me your baton."

As asked, Wendy handed the agent her weapon, thinking that she had some grand scheme to take them both down. But just as she had given away her weapon, she felt something pressed up against her torso. She looked down to see Claire's gun aimed directly at her at point-blank range. Before Wendy could mentally register what was going on, the 'GJN agent' struck her in the head with her own baton, drawing her into a world blackness.

* * *

"Wake her up."

A hard slap across her face threw Wendy into a new reality. One where she was in a dark room with a single bright light shining down on her. She attempted to move, but she soon discovered that she had been tightly bound to a chair. As her sight finally adjusted to the brightness, she saw a pair of figures standing over her, both of whom she instantly recognized.

"Major Bludd. Nice to meet you in person," Wendy greeted sardonically before looking over to other figure. "And you too Claire. Oh, wait, that's not your name, isn't it, Baroness?!"

'Claire' smirked at that accusation before pulling off her blonde wig to allow a cascade of long raven black hair to tumble down as she put on a pair of glasses. Wendy's heart sank in her chest as she realized that she had told the woman her secret identity. Much like Bludd, Wendy had read several files about the Baroness, and she should've expected something like this from the start. The Baroness was known to be a master of disguise and decryption, much like the mercenary who also worked for Cobra, Zartan.

"I'm impressed that you figured it out so fast," the Baroness said.

"Wasn't hard," Wendy shrugged. "It was either you or Zarana. Not a lot of top female agents in the sausage fest that is Cobra."

Baroness scowled at that. While Wendy was putting on a face, she was terrified beyond belief. She had unknowingly revealed her superhero persona to one of Cobra Commander's top lieutenants who had no doubt told Bludd who she really was by now. She looked around for any sign of Stan, but found none, making her fear the worst. Although she was faced with the very likely odds that she could die tonight, Wendy kept up her bravado, refusing to let these bastards see her cry up until the very end.

Just then, a pair of guards came up to the two agents carrying a badly beaten Stan by each of their arms before tossing him at Wendy's feet.

"I believe this belongs to you?" Bludd said.

"Let him go, you bastard!" she demanded. "I'm the one you want!"

"You?" Bludd said, confused. "Why the hell would we you?"

"But, wait, I thought that..." the teen attempted to say.

Wendy's gaze went over to the Baroness, who looked away when she did. Confusion set into the teenage heroine's mind as she tried to wrap her mind around what reason she could have for not telling Bludd that she was really a member of the Infinity League. Before she could think deeper on the matter, Bludd spoke up again.

"I doubt that your elderly friend ever told you this, but he use to work for Cobra back in the day," he revealed. "Not in the official sense, mind you, but he did do some gun running for us for a quick pay check. Granted, even if we told him who we really were, he still would've done our little deliveries for us."

He then gave Stan a hard kick in the ribs.

"But then this son of bitch ran off with my merchandise!" he continued. "And ended up costing me a fortune, not to mention getting punished by Cobra Commander!"

"Human beings ain't merchandise, you one eyed prick!" Stan snapped back defiantly. "The second I found out that you were gonna use those people for slave labor for you little club, I set them all free back in Mexico!"

"A mistake on your part," Bludd growled as he drew his pistol. "One that your young friend will suffer for."

He then aimed it at Wendy's head, all the while making sure that Stan was keeping his eyes on the teenager. Even though her heart was pounding in her chest like a hammer at this point, Wendy refused to let her fears be shown on her face. She instead glared back at Bludd as he pressed the gun against her forehead.

But just before the Major could pull the trigger, the lights in the room suddenly went out, causing Bludd to loose his focus for a moment. In that same moment, Wendy felt her bonds cut, allowing her to jump out of her seat. She knocked the gun out of her captor's hand and let it slide on the ground until Stan could get a hold of it.

When the lights finally came back on, the Baroness and the two guards found Wendy pinning Bludd up against the wall. She attempted to aid her comrade, only to feel a gun barrel press up against her temple.

"Try it, bitch," Stan warned before looking over to the guards. "You two, back up! Now!"

The guards did as Stan ordered and backed up while Wendy glared back at the Baroness, who looked back at her not with a visage of anger, but one of almost the same look of pride that she had earlier when she was still disguised as Claire before she too backed off. Stan then carefully stepped over to where Wendy was holding Bludd, all the while keeping the gun trained on the Baroness before aiming his gun at Wendy's captive.

"So, here's what's gonna happen," Wendy began. "Stan and I are going to walk out of here and head to the nearest exit, and you're going to stay right where you are or Stan will put a bullet through the Major's skull!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Bludd refuted.

"Yeah, I wouldn't," Wendy agreed. "But we both know Stan would."

"Wait," Baroness suddenly spoke up. "If you let Bludd go, I can escort you to one of our vehicles and you can drive back to Gravity Falls without threat of retaliation."

"Have you lost your mind, Baroness?!" Bludd exclaimed. "The Commander will have your head for this!"

"If the Commander is going to punish anyone for this, it will be you, Bludd!" Baroness snapped back. "Your little revenge scheme has cost time and money for Cobra! He'll be more mad at you for all this than me for letting two insignificant people walk away!"

"How can we be sure you won't kill us the second we let Bludd go, or blow the car up or something?" Stan inquired in a suspicious tone.

"You have my word that no harm will come to you," Baroness assured. "Think of it as a token of my appreciation. You have knocked Bludd down a few pegs in the Commander's eyes, which will in turn allow me to elevate myself among Cobra's ranks."

Stan stood defiantly where he was while Wendy carefully studied the Baroness. None of the Cobra agent's actions made any sense to her. First, she refuses to tell Bludd who she is, and now she's just letting them go? What game could this woman be playing at? Wendy could figure that out later though. Right now, she had to get Stan out of hear and get him patched up, for she feared that he may have internal injuries as well.

"Deal" Wendy accepted.

"Are you serious, Wendy?" her elderly friend questioned.

"We don't have much of a choice here, Stan," Wendy pointed out. "Either we take the offer, or we both die!"

"...fine" Stan relented.

"A wise choices" the Baroness said. "Now then, follow me."

With that, Wendy shoved Bludd into the pair of guards before the Baroness lead the former captives out of the room. However, she then pulled Wendy aside. She gestured to Stan to move away from the two before speaking.

"I hope you know that you owe me a great deal," she began. "Not just for saving you both, but also keeping your identity a secret."

"So, what do you want?" Wendy said, wanting to cut the chase. "I doubt you're keeping that little bit of information to yourself out of the goodness of your heart."

"And you'd be right," Baroness confirmed. "One day, I will call in a favor of from you, and if you value your secret identity and lives of your loved ones, then you'll do as I say. It also goes without saying that you should keep this little conversation between us."

Wendy grit her teeth at that, but she knew she could do nothing in this situation, least she and the others be hunted by Cobra.

"Your silence says enough," the Cobra agent smirked. "You can keep the information I gave you on the Red Talon. I think you'll be quite surprised by my findings."

Wendy growled back at her before turning to join Stan. She was too angry to form words to even speak to that woman any longer. The Baroness merely watched as as the young girl went to Stan's side. She felt a wave of guilt overcome her as she watched the two of them limp away from her.

While it was true that this was a ploy to get higher in the ranks of Cobra, she also did it to protect Wendy as she had always done. From the shadows, she watched over the teenager since she was a child, sending her family money through a secret fund she had set up for them. She kept tabs on her and her brothers to make sure they were safe, though that was difficult to do in a place like Gravity Falls.

What she was not expecting was the revelation was that Wendy was, in fact, the superheroine Lumbejane, and by extension, a member of the Infinity League. It stunned her to know that Wendy was now putting her life in danger far more than she had ever done before, something that her father no doubt had knowledge of. The next time she meets with him in person, she's going to give him a piece of her mind. She'd be more open about those meetings if it didn't mean that she'd be putting Dan's family in Destro's crosshairs. A part of her wanted to tell Wendy the truth, but for now, she would continue to keep her safe by staying away from her.

After all, it was a mother's first and foremost job to protect her children.

* * *

The Baroness kept her word and allowed Wendy and Stan go unharmed back to Gravity Falls with a supply truck as their form of transportation. During the ride back to town, the two were silent, both unable to find the right words to say. After dropping him off at the Mystery Shack, Stan couldn't help but think about what his young friend had said earlier about a parent abandoning their child. Sadly, it was something that the old con-artist knew all to well, for he had done such a thing.

He never told anyone, not even Ford before he fell through the portal, that he had a child years ago. A daughter he abandoned. But after his near-death experience today, all he could think about was the child he left behind in New York. It was time that he found his long lost daughter.

* * *

After returning home and telling her father of her ordeal, Wendy went back to her room to rest. She had considered telling the League, but relented, fearing the Baroness's reprisal should she do. She at least needed to tell Dipper, knowing that he'd figure it out on his own. However, there was something bigger on the ginger's mind at the moment. It was the information that the Baroness gave her about the Red Talon. Why would she do this? And more importantly, was any of this real? A part of her wanted nothing more than to destroy the so called 'gift' without giving it another thought. But on the other hand, what if it was true? What if the Cobra agent had found something viable? Perhaps that was her plan all along: To have the League deal with this problem for Cobra.

And so, her curiosity got the best of her, forced her to take the disc and play it on her computer. No sooner had she done so did she begin to comb through countless files, photographs and videos of the Red Talon and his one man war against the street level criminals. However, the more she dug into the research, the more she began to notice something. It was the way that the Red Talon fought and how shockingly familiar about the fighting style.

"Oh my God...Dipper?"

* * *

 **[1] - As seen in Chapter 3 of The Dark Phoenix**

 **[2] - As stated in a news report in part 11 of The New Frontier**

 **[3] - See Dipper's introduction as The Red Talon in his Spotlight and one such confrontation in Chapter 3 of The Dark Phoenix**


	14. Odd Della Robbia

**NOTE: I know I stated that the next Spotlight would probably be one that builds upon the RWBY related scene in Dark Phoenix, but my collaborator ended up finishing this before I had finished that, so I opted to upload it first. The one I'm working on should be done soon though. I'd say it's about 80%-85% done at the moment, so hopefully it won't be much longer.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Odd Della Robbia: Nine Lives, One Heart

* * *

Miracle City was, by no stretch of the imagination, not exactly a tourist spot in Mexico. The spicy cesspool of crime and villainy was home to some of the most dangerous villains in the world. From Dr. Chipolte Jr. and his father and grandfather to the feared Sartana of The Dead, every evil-doer in the city struck fear into the hearts of those who lived in the city. One such villain was El Oso, who was currently in the middle of carrying his daily routine of robbing banks. While White Pantera and his sometimes heroic son, El Tigre, were the protectors of the city, they would be often called away for a mission by the team they were a part of, allowing El Oso and the other villains of Miracle City to go about their evil business without fear of getting stopped. However, just because Miracle didn't have its heroes at the moment didn't mean that it was without protection.

"You better not call the cops, mans!" El Oso warned the bank teller as he hefted the sack of money over his shoulder before addressing the rest of hostages. "And that goes for the rest of you!"

The hostages he had taken during his heist let whimpers and cries in response, a clear sign that no one was going to oppose him. El Oso let out a hearty laugh as h made his way toward the hole he made in the wall when he first attacked the bank. But just before he could step out into the world, a small silver dart struck the ground in front of him that made the bear-themed villain halt in his tracks before a laser struck his hand, making him drop the money in the process. Furious at this surprise attack, El Oso spun around, thinking that one of his hostages was trying to play the hero.

"Who did that shit, mans?!" the bear-man demanded. "Which one of you just signed his own death warrant?!"

Just then, El Oso heard the sound of someone whistling to him from the rafters of the bank. Confused and still full of anger, the bear-themed villain looked up just in time to see a yellow boot strike him dead in the face. As El Oso stumbled back, the person who had kicked him did a backflip off his face before dramatically landing on the bank counter. The surprise hero was cat-themed costume wise, but this wasn't El Tigre. The hero's costume was dark purple with a black and yellow trim and highlights with armored shoulder pads and yellow knee pads. He had a pair of cat-like pawed gloves and had what looked like the emblem of a dog on his chest. To add to the hero's bizarre costume, his blond hair stuck up in a cone-shape and had a purple dot in the center of it. A purple mask covered his mouth, but his cheeks and forehead had streaks of purple on them.

This was Wild Katt, a member of the Infinity League and the Lyoko Warriors of France. Outside of his superhero identity, his real name was Odd Della Robbia. A carefree, joke-spinning teen who was among the first wave of heroes who were recruited into the team. When the Lyoko warriors were recruited into the League by the Ninja of Norrisville, Odd was ecstatic of being a hero in the eyes of the public instead of hiding the shadows. However, his friends were less than thrilled at first since they had been discovered. As it turns out, the GJN had been keeping tabs on them from the get-go ever since the Supercomputer was brought back online. Rather than try to try to shut them down, the League wanted to have them among their ranks, and Odd was the first to jump at the chance to join them.

"Looks like you've been denied a loan, Oso," Odd quipped before noting "Hey, by the way, can you speak English? I know you don't know French, so I'm using this instead. I'd hate to waste all my jokes and quips on you if you don't understand what I'm saying."

"Hey, you ain't Tigre!" Oso stated angrily. "Who the hell are you, mans?!"

"Why, I'm the Amazing Wild Katt of course!" Odd announced, striking another pose as he did. "Feline hero of France!"

"I thought that was Cat Noir, mans," the bear-man said, making Odd grimace under his face-mask as he did.

"Okay, just for that, I'm gonna punch you extra hard," Wild Katt stated.

El Oso let out a rage-filled cry as he lunged at Odd, who backflipped over him as he swung a fist at him. Once behind him, he delivered a double-kick to the bear-man's back, making him stumble forward. Oso spun around and tried to strike him again, only for Odd to jump up to evade the offensive and punch Oso across the face before doing several flips backward. Blinded by his anger, Oso charged at the french hero, who smirked under his mask as he took a fighting stance. Once he was close enough, Oso brought both his fists into the air before bringing them down on the cat-themed hero, who jumped out of the way as he fired two more laser arrows at the crook's face. While they weren't lethal to him, they did inflict enough pain to at least temporarily blind him long enough to allow Odd enough time to punch to the man-bear's face before finishing with a roundhouse kick that knocked Oso flat on his back.

The onlookers of the fight let out a cheer as Odd stood over the toppled villain. Distracted by the cheers, Wild Katt took a bow before his audience, taking in the admiration of the crowd as he always did. However, because of his need to showboat, Odd failed to notice that Oso had recovered for his attack and was currently reaching out to take hold of the cat-themed hero. As Odd continued to bow to the onlookers, he felt something grabbed onto his tail. Odd turned his head around to see Oso holding onto his appendage with a wicked grin on his face. The next thing Wild Katt knew, he was flung into the floor and nearby the walls, all the while Oso laughed at the young hero's pain. Once he was finished having his fun, the bear-themed villain hurled Odd out of the bank through the hole he made earlier out into the street where the french hero rolled across the road before hitting a nearby parked car.

"...Ow..." Odd muttered as he laid face down on the pavement.

Oso let out a deep laugh as he approached the fallen hero, cracking his knuckles as he did. But before he could lay another claw on the french hero, a fan came flying out seemingly nowhere before striking Oso in the face before returning to its owner's hand. The newcomer in question was a young Japanese girl dressed in a black and maroon suit with white face paint. She also wore a face mask like Wild Katt, only her's was looked more like the masks worn the samurai warriors of old. This was Yumi Ishiyama, or as the world knew her, the Geisha. Yumi was a Lyoko warrior and one of Odd's closest's friends, and right now, his guardian angel.

"Where were you when we was tossing me around like a ragdoll?" the cat-themed hero asked as he got back to his feet.

"What? And get in the way of the 'Amazing' Wild Katt?" his friend teased.

Odd rolled his eyes but was smiling under his mask. Next to Ulrich, Yumi was one of Odd's closest friends who always had his back. The two had fought together both on Lyoko and alongside the League and were completely in sync with one another's moves to the point that could fight flawlessly on the battlefield. Oso let out another roar of anger before charging at the teen heroes. They dodged in separate directions when the man-bear threw a punch that broke the car Odd hit in half before circling him from opposite sides. Odd fired his laser arrows while Yumi threw her fans at the villain, confusing and agitating him even further. Odd then threw a flying kick to Oso's stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of him. Yumi kept up the attack with a kick of her own to Oso's back that made him fall on his stomach that was still in pain from Wild Katt's blow.

At this point, Oso was blinded by white-hot rage. He shot up with the speed of a lunging cobra and knocked Geisha away with a powerful backhand that sent her flying backward into the side of a nearby building, knocking her out upon impact. Before Odd could react to what he just saw, Oso grabbed him again, only this time by the chest. He then slammed him into a car that had been abandoned by its owner during the fight. Fighting through the pain, Odd raised his arm to try to fire another laser arrow, only to have Oso slam his fist into Odd's chest, shattering several ribs as he did. The bear-themed villain continued to slam his fists into the young hero's person, laughing the whole time.

"Still think you hot shit, huh?" he mocked as he punched Odd deeper into the wrecked car. "You ain't nothing, mans! You hear me, puta?! You ain't nothing!"

Every blow from El Oso felt like Odd was having a wrecking ball dropped on his chest over and over again. Tigre warned him not to fight the man-bear head-on, for while Oso was, by all means, a moron, his physical strength was devastating to go up against. As a member of the Infinity League, Odd had gone up against some serious villains, but he usually had a team backing him up allowing him to hang back and fire from afar. But this was different. This time he was taking the brunt of the blows. With every punch, the french hero could almost feel another bone break or another organ rupture. At this point, Odd would love nothing more than to be fighting one of XANA's monsters on Lyoko right about now. At least then the pain was quick, as opposed to the agony that he was in right now. Just then, Oso stopped his assault, though it was only for a brief moment, for he then replaced his fist with his foot and stomped him through the car he was being pummeled into, causing Odd's mouth to erupt with a volley of blood in doing so.

Oso then took hold of Odd by the head and proceeded to slam him into the pavement before ramming him through the wall of another building where he dropped him at his feet. Wild Katt could barely see out of his left eye, for a blood vessel had popped within it, which added to his already blurred vision that was no doubt the result of a concussion. There wasn't a part of Odd's body that didn't hurt. It was a miracle, or perhaps a curse, that he still hadn't blacked out yet. He attempted to stand, only for Oso to kick him in the side, knocking him back to the ground in a broken heap. Odd hadn't thought much bout dying, but being here in this position made him realize that this may very well be where he falls. What would become of his family? His friends? The thoughts of those he would be leaving behind ran through his mind as Oso pinned him to the ground.

"Say goodnight, mans!" the bear-man proclaimed as he raised his fist to bring down the final blow.

Wild Katt closed his eyes, not wanting to see the end. But rather than feel the fist that would have surely killed him, he felt nothing. Confused by this, Odd opened his eyes to see Oso frozen in pace, though it seemed that he struggling against some unseen force that was holding him in place. The cat-themed hero then noticed Yumi standing at the entrance hole Oso made when he smashed through the building. To add to the Geisha being deadly with her fans and an expert in hand to hand combat, she also had a telekinetic ability. One that, while powerful, put a massive strain on her mind. Despite his distorted vision from the injuries he had taken, Odd could clearly see that that his friend was enraged by what had happened to him. Yumi then reached out with her powers and yanked Oso backward and back out into the street, where she began to fling him around like he had done to her comrade not too long ago. She then mentally slammed Oso into the ground, but she was far from done with him.

While telekinetically holding the man-bear down, Yumi raised an empty car off the streets high into the air before repeatedly pounding it into Oso as an act of revenge for her fallen friend. Once the car was shattered from the constant smashing, Yumi then reached out with her mind to take hold of a lamp post. The Geisha began to pull it out of the ground before wrapping it around a now very beaten and bloodied El Oso to hold him for the GJN to collect. Once she had detained her enemy, Yumi clutched her head in pain. She had exerted so much power that the mental backlash was giving her a massive migraine, hence why she never used her telekinesis that often, but for Odd, she'd take the headache.

With Oso down, Yumi turned her attention back to Odd, who had finally blacked out from the pain he was. She ran to his side and held him in her arms, checking her pulse as she did. Thankfully, Odd was still alive, but his breathing was shallow, and if he was to survive, then he needed medical attention at once. Acting quickly, Yumi switched on her COMM to make an emergency call to Skyward Tower.

"This is Geisha, I need an emergency teleport to the infirmary now!" she practically shouted into her COMM.

"We're on it, Yumi!" Wheeljack assured on the other end of the COMM.

With that, the two young heroes were transported back to the orbital base, all the while Yumi prayed that it wasn't too late.

* * *

"Multiple spinal fractures, three broken ribs with four more cracked, broken pelvis, a ruptured kidney, collapsed lung, internal bleeding, and a mild concussion," a female voice listed off. "To say that it's a miracle that he's still alive is nothing short of an understatement. He still needs to go through another surgery before he can be released from here."

Odd slowly opened his eyes to see that he hadn't arrived in heaven but the medical wing of Skyward Tower. He then noticed that the voice he heard was that of Dr. Ann Possible, Kim's mother and one of the medical experts for the Infinity League. Standing beside her was Doc, the field medic of G.I. Joe. Odd then saw that were talking to Yumi, who was now with Ulrich and Jeremy, who was holding Kiwi in his arms, all of whom were taking in all the wounds their friend had suffered from the beating he took from El Oso. Doc then noticed that the injured hero had finally awoken and gasped in shock.

"Jesus Christ..." he said, clearly stunned. "It shouldn't be possible!"

Curious what Doc was looking at, the other Lyoko Warriors turned to see that their cat-themed friend was awake. The young heroes rushed to Odd's side and hugged him, laughing and crying tears of joy as they embraced him. While the blonde-haired boy felt the love emotionally, psychically was a different story.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Still in pain here guys!" Odd reminded them, making them all back off.

"We're just glad you're not dead, you jerk!" Ulrich said happily

"Not as happy as this little guy here," Jeremy said as he held Kiwi up to allow him to lick his master's face.

"Oh, you all worry too much," Odd shrugged off. "I'm out for a few hours and you act as if I came back from the dead!"

Everyone's face grew grim upon hearing that assumption, which, of course, perplexed the cat-themed hero.

"Odd...you haven't been out for a few hours," Yumi corrected. "You've been in a coma for five days."

That made Odd's blood run cold. It was a horrifying thing for him to hear that he was on death's door. If Yumi hadn't been there to save him, then his friends and family would be burying him right about now. He then felt the Japanese girl's hand being placed on his shoulder to comfort him. Odd looked up at the Geisha and saw the lights of the Medical center seemingly dance off her skin. The very sight of her made the cat-themed hero's heart nearly skip a beat, though that could be from one of his many injuries.

"You scared the shit out of us," she said gently. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Looks like I got me a guardian angel" Odd replied with a smirk. "One who can throw people around with her mind."

Yumi laughed at that, making Odd in turn blush at the gesture for a few seconds. He never blushed like that around Yumi. What was wrong with him? He blamed the painkillers he was no doubt on that were making him this loopy around Yumi.

"It might've been a lot a worse if you didn't have that suit protecting you," Dr. Possible mentioned. "You should thank the Rangers for allowing you to share their power."

When the Lyoko Warriors first became members of the Infinity League, the biggest hurdle was using their powers outside of the digital world. True, they could harness their abilities in the outside world, but that was through teleporting from their digital ship, the Skid, and even then it was only two at a time. So, to counter this problem, Jeremy figured out a solution. One that was outlandish and improbable...In other words: the type of problems Jeremy could easily figure out. With the help of the Blue Ranger, Trini, and Alpha 5, and under the guidance of Zordon, the child genius tapped into the Morphing Grid via the Supercomputer. With his friends all within the scanners, he supercharged them with the ancient power of the Morphing Grid and transferred it to the four warriors. When the procedure was complete, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Odd were all granted the ability to morph into their Lyoko personas at will. The upgrade also enhanced their suits' durability, which allowed them to sustain more damage in a combat situation, which today, proved to be fortunate in Odd's case.

"We've been keeping Aelita up to date on how you've been doing," Ulrich mentioned. "She wants to tell you that she hopes that you get well soon."

"Which, unfortunately, won't be for a while, I'm afraid," Dr. Possible added. "The injuries that you sustained were pretty severe. You're going to have to stay here for at least the next two days, and even after that, you're on medical leave for the next six weeks."

"You mean we get to play doctor a little longer?" Odd asked in a flirty tone as he gave her a grin. "Well, I hope you take my temperature soon, cause I'm feeling pretty hot right now, though not as hot as you."

Everyone groaned at that. Odd had a reputation of being something of a playboy among the rest of the team. If it had two legs and was a woman, Odd was going to try to get its pants. Superheroes, Joes, and even the female Autobots were all at the mercy of the cat-boy's pick-up lines. Even though Odd was relentless when he liked someone, he knew his boundaries. He never went after someone who was already with someone else, though he claimed he could sway the girls away from their lovers if he so chose to, and he never forced himself on any of the girls. Usually, he'd flirt with one girl for a little bit and then move onto the next one when he got enough no's from the previous girl. The young hero also tended to occasionally pick-up so-called 'super groupies' and sneak them up to the Tower for a one-night stand before sending them back the next day, which was recently put a stop to by the League Leaders when they caught him trying to sneak the entire Dallas Cowboys cheerleader squad into the Tower. This especially infuriated for the Dragon, who was a stalwart Giants fan. During one session at Sanctuary, Jazz noted Odd to be a textbook nymphomaniac for his constant desire for a sexual partner.

"To bad his libido wasn't broken too," Doc said

"Any chance you can neuter him during the next surgery, ma'am?" Ulrich asked Kim's mother.

"I'm almost tempted to do so," Ann replied.

"Hey, don't hate the playa', hate the game, son!" Odd defended.

"Oh, come on guys, he's been through enough as it," Yumi told the others. "Odd's just being...well, himself."

Again, Odd's heart skipped another beat as he watched Yumi defend him. Normally, she'd be right there with the rest of them teasing him, but yet here she was, standing up for him. The cat-themed hero's pulse quickened at the gesture his friend had made for him. This was so strange for him, feeling this way around one of his closest friends. He couldn't be attracted to Yumi...right?

"Alright, I think Odd needs some rest," the Joe Medic said. "We'll keep you updated on his progress."

After saying their quick goodbyes, Ulrich and Jeremie left. However, Yumi stayed behind for a moment to speak to him privately.

"I'm glad that you're alright, Odd," she told him softly. "Get well soon, ok?"

With that, the Geisha did something that Odd wasn't prepared for: she kissed his forehead. Before he could even mentally register what had just happened, she left, leaving Odd in a downward spiral of emotions. To make matters worse, Doc mentioned something that further added fuel to the fire.

"Your friend's a special girl," the Joe noted. "She stayed with you the entire time you were in a coma. The others visited a lot too, but she stayed with you the most."

'Thanks, I totally didn't need to hear that right now,' Odd mentally chastised the medic.

Odd was flustered. Why was he flustered at all? This was Yumi! His friend and only his friend! Out of the women he knew in his life, there were only three women he was never attracted to: Aelita, Sissi, and above all else, Yumi. Hell, whenever he was attracted to a girl, he never felt this way before. He was weak in the knees and his heart was racing a mile a minute. His mind was running wild with everything that had just transpired and could only come to one conclusion.

'I think...I like Yumi,' he thought to himself before saying out loud "Shit."

* * *

It had been three weeks since his time in the infirmary, and Odd had since been given clearance to leave, though he was still on medical leave and couldn't be allowed to go on missions. Since then, he had been staying on the Tower, or more accurately, his room on the Tower, only coming out for food and physical therapy, as well as mental therapy at Sanctuary. In his private quarters, Odd kept to himself as his thoughts ran wild with that of Yumi. At first, he chalked it up just being grateful for her saving his life during the fight, but the more he thought about it, the more he considered that perhaps that there was more to it than that. Yumi may have teased him for being a playboy, but she never condemned him for it. She cared about him and often supported him in even in his most insane plans to get famous, even if she was just the voice of reason.

But this wasn't right. Yumi was his friend, and Odd made it a rule never to date friends, knowing it would complicate things for everyone. Furthermore, the goth was going through enough as it was already. A few months ago, Ulrich had decided to end things between them after returning from a time-traveling adventure **[1]** , which in retrospect was probably for the best since things had become so toxic between them that it was bringing down everyone else in the group. While Yumi accepted it, Odd knew that it hurt her a lot more than she let on. Furthermore, Ulrich was like his brother. How could he just ask Yumi out when there was so much history between the two already? It'd be like a slap in the face against his best friend. Not only that, what if things ended badly between him and Yumi? It'd only further cause a rift among the Lyoko Warriors.

As Odd laid on his bed in the darkness of his room, music playing loudly to try and calm him down, a knock was heard at his door, thankfully derailing his train of thought. Kiwi, who was lying beside his master on the bed, barked at the intruder to try to ward them away until the cat-boy ordered him to be quiet. Wincing in pain as he sat up, Odd acknowledged whoever was knocking, though he hoped that it wasn't the subject of his desire.

"Yeah?" he called out to his unknown visitors.

"Yo, man, it's Manny," Tigre answered from the other side of the door. "I'm with Ron. We wanted to see how you were feeling. Can we come in?"

"Sure, come on in," Odd replied.

The door slid open automatically to allow the sometimes hero of Miracle City and Kim's sidekick/boyfriend to step inside. Odd attempted to get out of bed to properly greet them, but Manny put a stop to that.

"Whoa, easy, dude. You don't gotta get up," Tigre advised. "Just sit there, okay?"

It was then that the fellow young hero noted the type of music that was playing in Odd's room.

"Uh oh, he's listening to The Weeknd."

"Uh, meaning?" Ron asked, confused.

"He only listens to The Weeknd when he's really got the hots for a girl," Manny explained before looking back slyly to Odd. "If he was listening to the Bee Gee's, then he'd be crazy about the girl. You can't help yourself, can you?"

"I don't wanna talk it right now, man," the french teen brushed off.

"Oh come on, you gotta tell us who-"

"I said I don't wanna talk about it!"

"Okay dude, Jesus, I'm just playing with you," Manny relented.

Not wanting to push him any further, Manny and Ron instead pulled up some chairs and sat beside the bed to talk to their wounded friend.

"So, how are you feeling?" Ron inquired.

"Oh, you know, besides the six metal bolts that are holding my spine together, the constant pain I'm in, and that I'm pissing blood, I feel like a million bucks," Odd sarcastically answered, then noticed Manny about to say something. "If you're thinking about saying 'I told you so about Oso,' don't."

"Uh, forget I asked," the sidekick meekly said.

"Ah, I'm sorry, guys," Odd apologized. "The truth is...I am thinking about a girl."

"Knew it," Tigre said with a grin. "So, who is this time? I'm betting Sailor Venus."

"It's Yumi."

Manny and Ron's eyes widen in shocked unison at that.

"Boy, have you lost your mind? 'Cause I'll help you find it!" Stoppable shouted in bewilderment.

"Bad move, bro," Manny added.

"Oh, you two don't get to point fingers at me!" the cat-boy snapped "you both dated your best friends too!"

"Yeah, and it didn't turn out well for me," Manny corrected. "Or did you forget that Frida and I broke up?"

"And KP and I are still together, but I didn't try to date her for a long time," Ron informed him. "I didn't try to ask her out right after a breakup!"

"It's been like three months since she and Ulrich broke up," Odd reasoned.

"Yeah, and she might not be over it," Tigre pointed. "Not everyone bounces back as fast as you, Odd."

"I'm not saying that I'm trying to date her at all!" Odd shot back "I'm confused by this too, dude!"

"When did you start feeling this way toward her?" Ron asked.

"Shortly after I woke up from my coma," the french teen explained. "But I think...I might've had these feelings for her all this time and just now realized it."

"You need to be careful, Odd. This is a tightrope you're walking on right now," Tigre replied. "If you're not careful, you could hurt everyone around you."

"You think I don't know that?!" Odd shouted back. "This is Yumi. One my of best friends! This isn't like me having a crush one some superhero or sleeping some floozy who wants to have bragging rights about fucking a superhero, this is someone I've bleed with on Lyoko! Who always had my back from day one! And I can't stand the thought of hurting her, but at the same time, I'm gonna drive myself crazy if I don't do something soon!"

Odd buried his face in his hands and he tried to hold back the tears he was fighting off.

"I can't keep doing this..." he breathed out in a low. "I'm confused over all this, but I can't bring myself to tell her how I feel."

"Look, Odd, we can't help with you this. There's nothing that we can say that's gonna make this go away," Ron told him slowly. "But you need to talk to Yumi as soon as you can. Because if you don't, then it's just gonna keep eating away at you."

After giving that least piece of advice, Ron and Manny departed from Odd's quarters, letting him contemplate what his next move was going to be.

* * *

When Odd was released from the infirmary, he was given a crutch to help him walk, but he refused to use it, saying that he didn't a pity party everywhere he went. Because of his prideful choice, he now shuffled across the hallways of the orbital base, trying his best to look as though he was okay, even though he was still in horrendous pain. However, if Odd was being honest with himself, the mental anguish that he was in hurt far worse than his physical pain. He had heeded Ron's words and decided that he needed to speak with Yumi about how he felt about her rather than try to hide it any longer. There was just one problem: What was he going to say to her? It had two weeks since his talk with his fellow heroes and he still couldn't find the right words to say.

Every scenario in his head seemed to lead to the two of them having a major falling out. Anything he could think of saying was the wrong thing and would only damage his friendship with Yumi. What was he supposed to do? While Ron and Manny had said for him to talk to Yumi, he couldn't bring himself to face her, lest he have his heart broken. Odd wasn't the type of person to cry over a broken heart, he'd normally just move onto the next girl, but this time he knew that wouldn't be the case. Honestly, he didn't even know why he left his room at this point. A part of him wanted to turn back around and limp back to his room, but he was far too gone for that and was in too much pain to double-back. He also considered visiting Jazz at Sanctuary to get her two cents on this matter, but decided against it, lest he run the risk being suspended from the League like Aelita was. [2]

As Odd continued to head toward Yumi's room to do...whatever it was that he was planning to do, he passed by the Rec Room, which was having another karaoke night hosted by the Autobot DJ, Blaster. Thankfully, Bebop and Rocksteady had been banned from singing after nearly making everyone deaf one too many times [2], but even without the two mutants not being allowed to participate, the cat-themed hero wasn't in the mood to sing, for he had too much on his mind as it was. However while he was lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice Sakura stepping out of the Rec Room to find more singers for tonight's festivities, and, unfortunately for Odd, he fell right into her line of sight.

"Hey, Odd!" she greeted him as she approached him. "Wanna join in for a couples song?"

"Nah, I'm not feeling like singing today," the cat-boy brushed off as he continued to walk away.

"Oh, come on, Odd, it'll be fun!" the young fighter persisted. "Yumi's about to sing."

The very mention of the object of his infatuation made Odd stop dead in his tracks. He headed over to the doorway of the Rec Room and sure enough, there was Yumi, standing on the stage and trying to select a song to sing to the crowd of heroes. Maybe it was the stage lights or just Odd's wild imagination, but his best friend seemed to glow with a certain light to her. Again. Odd's heart seemed to skip at the sight of his friend. A part of him was mentally screaming at him to turn around right now and leave, not wanting to face his crush in public at the moment. Unfortunately, the cat-themed hero never paid much attention to that part of his brain. So, throwing caution to the wind, he made his way into the Rec Room. As he entered the room, Yumi spotted her friend.

"Odd, over here!" she called out to him. "Come do a song with me!"

A cheer from the other heroes further egged Odd on with his choice to go along with this obviously bad idea. So, with a little help from Sakura, who helped him get on the stage, he found himself standing next to the woman of both his dreams and his dismay. Odd was sweating bullets at this point, though that could be due to the bright lights that were shining down on him at the moment. Yumi flipped through the songs until she found one that she and Odd knew before handing her friend a mic and let the cat-boy start first. Steadying his nerves, Odd took in a breath before he began his song.

 ** _She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene_**

 ** _I said don't mind, but what do you mean, I am the one_**

 ** _Who will dance on the floor in the round_**

 ** _She said I am the one, who will dance on the floor in the round_**

With Odd starting off the song, Yumi jumped in with the next verse.

 ** _She told me her name was Billie Jean, as she caused a scene_**

 ** _Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one_**

 ** _Who will dance on the floor in the round_**

Odd watched with silent admiration of his friend as she sang. Ever since they had started a short-lived band together, Odd had always enjoyed the Japanese girl singing voice. It almost made him forget the pain he was at the moment at just the sight of her singing along to the music.

 ** _People always told me be careful of what you do_**

 ** _And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts_**

 ** _And mother always told me be careful of who you love_**

 ** _And be careful of what you do 'cause the lie becomes the truth_**

Realizing that he was still on stage, Odd quickly brought himself back to reality and joined Yumi in the chorus part of the song.

 ** _Billie Jean is not my lover_**

 ** _She's just a girl who claims that I am the one_**

 ** _But the kid is not my son_**

 ** _She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son_**

This was heaven for the cat-boy. Here he was, singing side by side with the girl of his affection. It was at that moment that he came to a conclusion: this wasn't some small infatuation he had for his friend, but actual love. For Odd, this seemed like a logical choice for him. Yumi was kind, strong, smart and loyal. She was the best friend anyone could ask for and Odd was lucky to have her in his life. So, without giving it another thought, the cat-themed hero leaned up to reach the taller girl's lips with her own and kissed his obviously surprised friend. The music and the crowd stopped dead as Yumi dropped her mic in shock at what Odd had just done. She shoved her friend off her person before quickly getting off stage and storming out of the Rec Room. Realizing what he had just done, Odd moved as fast as his still-healing body would allow him to get off the stage as he followed after Yumi, whom he found fuming in the hallway.

"Yumi, I'm so sor-" he tried to say.

"How many pain killers have you taken today?" the Geisha demanded.

"Just the regular amount the medics, why?" Odd answered, confused by the question.

"In that case what the hell were you thinking?!" Yumi exclaimed. "I wanted to believe that you were just high off your pain meds, but no, it's just you being you!"

"I know, it was dumb Yumi, but I can explain!" Odd replied. "I...I love you!"

Yumi's eyes widened at that declaration from her friend before her scowl returned.

"Are you serious right now, Odd?" she questioned sharply. "I broke up with Ulrich like three months ago and you just decided to move in like I was one your fangirls?!"

"Your not a fangirl, Yumi, your one of my best friends!" he cat-boy offered. "Your smart, strong, and-"

"Odd, no, stop, just...stop," Yumi cut him off in an angered, yet defeated voice "this...this isn't going to work out. After Ulrich and I broke up, I decided to focus on myself for a while, and what I've learned about myself isn't pretty. I'm trying to figure shit out and what you just did wasn't okay. We may be friends, but that doesn't mean that we're meant to be together. I can get jealous easily and shut off from people when I'm angry and you're a nymphomaniac who can't help himself when he's around a woman. I mean, what's going to happen if we were together and I walked in on you having sex with Chloe, or did you not think about that?"

"Well, if that's the case, then why did you stay with me that whole time while in a coma?" he shot back. "Or kiss my forehead for that matter?"

"Because I was scared that you were going to die, you dumbass!" Yumi shouted. "And I kissed your forehead because I was happy that you were still alive! that's all it was, a sign of our friendship and that's it, but clearly, that was a bad idea!"

Odd hung his head low in shame. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. As much as he cared for her, or how much he thought he cared about her, Yumi had a valid point, but he was too stupid to try and do this anyway, and because of that, he may have just destroyed his friendship with Yumi.

"I understand that you're going through a lot right now, so I'm going to chalk this up as you not thinking straight and leave it at that," his friend stated. "But don't you, ever, and I mean ever, pull that stunt again."

"So...are we still friends?" Odd meekly asked.

"Yes, but I think you should stay away from me for a while," Yumi said firmly. "Just...go back to your room and heal, okay? I'm going to the mess hall, I need to process all this."

Odd gave a small nod in understanding before turning away and slowly heading back to his quarters, all the while feeling worse than the beating he took from El Oso.

* * *

Silence. That was all there was in Odd's room as he laid on his bed. Kiwi whimpered as he cuddled closer to his master, knowing that something was troubling him. The dog's intuition was correct, for the boy was indeed plagued with the thoughts of his poor decision to start a relationship with Yumi. How could he have been so stupid? In one fell swoop, he nearly destroyed his friendship with someone he had cared for. In hindsight, he knew that Yumi as right. He couldn't control himself around women. Every time he was around one, he'd have an urge to try and sleep with them. But his friend had a point. He was too impulsive and let his urges take control of his actions. Was this all it was? Just another of those said urges? He refused to believe that, for Yumi wasn't like the other women in his life. This was someone he knew personally. Someone he'd even die for if the situation called for it.

As he sat in his shame, he heard a knock at his door. At first, the cat-themed hero was going to ignore them, but his good nature refused him to do so. Odd climbed out of bed and hobbled to the door where he opened to reveal a very panicked Jeremy and, more importantly, Yumi, standing before him.

"Something's happened to Aelita!" Jeremy began. "Ulrich said that she had some kind of seizure at school!"

"Sailor Mars had the same thing happen to her too!" Yumi added. "They're both being taken the infirmary. We have to go!" [3]

In that instant, Odd put his inner conflict aside from the moment, knowing that his friend needed him more than his own wants and desires.

"Well, what are we standing around here?" he asked the others. "Let's go already!"

With that, the trio quickly headed toward the infirmary, though they had to walk due to Odd's inability to run at the moment. As they walked, Odd kept some distance from Yumi and Jeremy, respecting his friend's wish to be away from him. Yumi, of course, noticed this and decided to do something about it.

"Go ahead Jeremy, we'll catch up," she informed the boy genius.

"Thanks, Yumi," the boy thanked before going into a full sprint toward the medical wing.

With Jeremy gone, Yumi approached Odd, who backed away as he looked down again.

"I know what you're going to say, Yumi, but we've got bigger things to worry about right now," he began. "I don't blame you by the way, about what you said earlier I mean."

"I know, and I stand by what I said," Yumi replied 'but, the thing is...it's not like I haven't thought about it before."

"Y-you have?" Odd said, stunned.

"Yeah, I mean despite being an absolute ass hat sometimes, your one of the sweetest guys I know," the Geisha confirmed. "I'm not saying that we should jump into being a couple, I'm saying that we need to work on ourselves first before we even consider going any further. I need to work on controlling my emotions and you need to work on having some self-control. So, for now, please respect my boundaries, and whenever the time comes, I'll come to and talk about the possibility of us being more than friends."

Odd was amazed by this statement, but he didn't get his hopes right then and there. Yumi was right about both his need to keep himself under control around and that he shouldn't pressure her into this. It wouldn't be easy for the playboy, but for Yumi, he'd put in the effort.

"But we can't focus on this now. Aelita needs us now and we can't be distracted by all this," she continued.

"Right," Odd agreed. "But, uh, can I lean on you for a bit? I didn't take my pain meds before we left."

Yumi nodded before pulled her shorter friend close to so he could lean on her as they walked toward the infirmary. Like Manny and Cat Noir, Odd would often be told that, because of his cat-like persona, that he had nine lives, and while that may or may not be true, what was true was that he had one heart, and right now it felt like it was soaring in his chest.

* * *

 **[1] - These events will be explained in Infinity League: No Road Home**

 **[2] - As seen in Ch 3 of The Dark Phoenix**

 **[3] - As seen in Ch 4 of The Dark Phoenix**


	15. Ch'rell

**NOTE: Well, that didn't take long, did it? I actually managed to get it finished earlier than I had anticipated and now you guys get two new Spotlights for the price of one! :D**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

Infinity Verse Spotlight

Ch'rell: Trial by Blood

* * *

All was going according to plan for Ch'rell. **[1]** Day by day, more and more of the White Fang's outposts that spread all across Remnant caught wind of the new High Leader. One that promised to succeed where Adam had failed and had sworn that he would hunt him down and kill him, both in the name of the Faunus who had died due to his insane ambitions and as a right of passage. Scouts were being deployed all over the world in such a short amount of time, thanks to the Utrom tech he had possessed. They had even gifted him by repairing the throne room in Mistral that Adam had destroyed in a fit of rage.

The pieces were coming together smoothly.

And yet, a sensation of anger coursed through the alien body inside the mechanical suit he controlled.

It was a sensation he was used to. One that he had even embraced. It was this fury, he believed, that kept him alive for this long. Had he not accepted the rage within, surely he would have perished long ago when he was exiled from Dimension X.

His exile.

The very thought caused him to tightly grip the armrests of the throne he now sat upon, cracking them slightly.

He had only desired to do what he thought was best for the Utrom Tribe. To purge Dimension X of those loathsome Kraang forever. To see an end to this seemingly never-ending war. But no. Over time, his methods were deemed 'extremist' and 'terroristic' by Queen, Bishop, and the rest of the High Council. And so, they banished him to the Prime Universe. Angry and alone, he did all he could to survive in this strange world, hearing stories about one Oroku Saki.

The Shredder.

Admiring his ruthlessness, intelligence, and savagery, Ch'rell decided to construct a suit of armor using some of the leftover Kraang tech from their many attempted sieges of New York. One that unofficially made him the new Shredder following the eventual death of Saki at the hands of one of the sons of his most hated rival, Hamato Yoshi. After all, if his people saw him as a villain, then perhaps it was time for him to play the part.

But even he knew that simply constructing a suit of armor would not be enough for him to get his revenge. First, he needed an army. Saki's Foot Clan was out of the question, for it was now under the control of his 'daughter,' Karai. Someone who would most definitely not wish to assist someone who bore her 'father's' mantle. So, he needed to search elsewhere. As he scanned through the multiverse, he found exactly what he was looking for in the form of Remnant's White Fang.

And once he had completely gained their loyalty, the first true step towards his revenge would be complete.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the throne room's doors opening. He looked down to see Trifa approaching him before getting down on her knees before him.

"Master Shredder," she greeted.

"Arise, young one," Ch'rell responded. "What news do you bring before me?"

"One of our scout teams in the outskirts of Argus just reported back to us," the spider-Faunus answered as she got back on her feet. "They've found him."

Upon hearing this news, the Utrom couldn't help but let out a devious chuckle as he slowly rose upwards from his newfound throne.

"Excellent," he said as he descended towards his subordinate. "The coward, Taurus' judgment day is upon him. Come, Trifa. You and I shall drag him back here to where you and the others shall bear witness to his execution."

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, master, than to see that traitor suffer," Trifa responded, smirking at the mere thought.

* * *

"Gotcha."

With her mechanical right arm still gripping Adam's Wilt and her hair glowing a bright shade of gold, Yang then cocked her Ember Celica in her left arm and pulled her opponent towards her, delivering a mighty punch to his stomach that sent him flying backward. Once he had ceased trudging against the ground, Adam managed to get back on his feet, his Aura completely depleted, and reached down to his Blush to grab his sword, only to notice that it was missing. To his horror, he turned to Yang, her own Aura drained, to see his weapon still in his hand.

"I may not be faster...but I'm smarter," she said.

She then hurled her enemy's weapon towards the nearby waterfall.

"NO!" Adam cried out.

He made an attempt to dash towards his Wilt and grab it, but was far too late, and could only watch as it descended down the cliff. Suddenly, without warning, Blake leaped up from the ledge she was holding onto and uppercut the Faunus terrorist. He stumbled backward as a result but was quickly able to regain his footing right as he and Blake noticed one half of her Gambol Shroud's katana portion on the ground.

The two of them rushed to try and grab it, all while Yang dashed towards another piece of the broken blade. The second she grabbed it, Blake had managed to grasp the portion of her weapon before Adam could, and the two of them thrust their newfound weapons towards their adversary, fully intent on finishing him off for good.

However, the two of them failed to notice that a triangular-shaped portal had opened above them, both Ch'rell and Trifa emerging from it. The Shredder had made his mark on Adam's back, forcing him onto his stomach before instantly grabbing Yang by her neck. Trifa, meanwhile, shot a web from her right palm that wrapped itself around Blake before ducking down to avoid the offensive she had intended for Adam. The spider-Faunus then swung the cat-Faunus away from her right as Ch'rell tossed Yang aside, the two of them landing nearby each other.

Both huntresses-in-training barely had any time to react to what had just transpired but were able to quickly get back on their feet, only for their eyes to widen in a state of surprise to see a massive, mechanical suit of armor picking a struggling Adam up by the collar of his outfit and a portal hovering above it. Blake then noticed Trifa standing beside the suit and narrowed her eyes angrily, believing that her psychotic ex's cavalry had finally come for him, and was about to charge towards her when the spider-Faunus spoke up.

"Relax, Belladonna, we're not here for this treacherous worm's sake," she stated. "And as much as I would enjoy watching him be humiliated by you and your friend here, I'm afraid that honor is going to go to our new High Leader."

She motioned her head towards Ch'rell, who had not relented on his iron grip upon the former High Leader. Neither Blake nor Yang hesitated from their stances, knowing that there was a reasonable chance that they would ambush them at a moment's notice. Then, rather perplexingly to the latter half of Team RWBY, Shredder turned his inhuman gaze towards Blake...and only Blake. It was almost as if Yang wasn't even there in his eyes.

"Enjoy these final, fleeting moments of solace while you still can," he advised. "For when next we meet, one of us will not leave our inevitable confrontation alive."

Only then did he finally turn his head towards Yang.

"As for you, pray that we do not cross paths again. For if we do, I shall claim your other arm...and then your life."

And with that chilling warning spoken, the portal above him, Adam and Trifa lowered towards them, sending the three of them to God knows where in the eyes of the two huntresses-in-training. Only then did Yang finally relent from her stance, only to turn to see Blake still staring blankly at where they once stood.

"Blake, who...Who was that?" she questioned.

"...I don't know," was all Blake could answer with as she turned to face Yang.

The blonde bombshell noticed a look in the Faunus' eyes. A look of dread. One that told her that she knew that this, indeed, would not be the last time they would see this man. And that whatever his endgame was, it couldn't possibly be good.

* * *

Adam fell face-first to the ground harshly after hearing his attacker speak to his former love. He noticed instantly that he had not landed on the rocky cliffside of Argus, but on a wooden floor. He looked upward as he slowly rose to his feet and instantly realized that he was back in Mistral. More specifically, the White Fang throne room.

He observed his surroundings further and noticed that dozens upon dozens of his former followers now surrounded him. Each and every one of them gazed upon their former leader with the same hate-filled look in their eyes. A snarl of contempt escaped Adam's lips as he finally got back on his feet.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

The onlookers only responded with silence and the same look of contempt in their eyes.

"Answer me!" Adam roared.

"They do not take orders from you anymore, Adam Taurus," a voice from behind interrupted.

Upon hearing the same voice that addressed Black earlier in Argus, the bull-Faunus turned to see Ch'rell towering before him, with Trifa standing by his side, the same bitter look on her face as the other Faunus in the room. Seeing what appeared to be a human standing in the White Fang throne room, as well as one of his top lieutenants standing with him, caused Adam to nearly grit his teeth in anger.

"Trifa," he practically spat out. "You allowed a human to ambush me AND set foot in this throne room?! This treachery will no-"

"You DARE speak of treason after what you've done, you bastard?!" Trifa shouted. "After you yourself forced us to ally ourselves with humans, lead your brothers and sisters to slaughter at Haven without any remorse for them whatsoever, and murdered Sienna in cold blood?!"

Hearing the accusation for Sienna's murder caused the Faunus terrorist's sole working eye to widen slightly, and prompted him to say possibly the last thing he should have said in response.

"How did you find out? Who told you?!"

"Why you did, Taurus, just now," the Shredder answered with a sinister chuckle. "Though we certainly had our suspicions."

Realizing what he had just done, Adam briefly went slack-jawed before quickly regaining his composure and resumed his hate-filled glare towards his subduer.

"Why, Adam?" Trifa asked.

"Why?" Adam repeated, no longer having anything to hide. "Why?! Because Sienna was a short-sighted coward! All she would ever think about is having the humans simply fear us when they should be kneeling before us! I gave her the chance to see things my way, but in the end, she was as blind as ever."

Both of his hands tightly gripped into fists as he continued to seeth with fury.

"So I chose what was best for the Faunus. Every decision I've made has always been for the Faunus!"

Growling in malice at her former High Leader, Trifa attempted to march towards him to give him a piece of her mind, only for Ch'rell to place his hand in front of her to stop her.

"Oh, I understand," the Shredder responded. "Far more than you no doubt believe. For I was in your current predicament once as well."

As he continued to speak, he calmly began to advance towards Adam, who simply glared right into his armor's red optics in retaliation.

"My people were at war. Brothers and sisters fell day by day to my enemies. I, and several others, fought back to purge our land of their wickedness forever...Until the day they exiled me."

The thoughts returned to the banished Utrom as his armor's mechanical hands too gripped into fists out of contempt.

"'Savage'...'Cruel'...'Barbaric'...That was what my brethren dubbed both my actions and myself. Like you, all that I had done was for what I so desperately believed was for the good of my people, but they were too blind to see that. I found myself in a very similar situation you found yourself in, Adam. Broken, bitter, and, alone...But do you know what the difference is between you and me?"

Ch'rell then finally stopped his advance towards the bull-Faunus when he was only a foot or two away from him.

"I chose to fight and survive. Not run and chase after a girl."

Hearing his answer prompted Adam to snarl at the mere thought of Blake and what happened back at Argus until the Shredder's voice snapped him out of it.

"Now then, on to why you are here," the renegade Kraang continued as he started to walk away.

"Let me guess," Adam responded. "You've brought me back here to stand trial."

"Oh, no," Ch'rell answered, turning to face the Faunus once more as he did so. "Your guilt has already been determined. Though, there will indeed be a trial this day."

He then reached for his back and pulled something out of one of two scabbards attached to his back. Adam's sole eye widened slightly in surprise when he saw what it was: His sword, Wilt, which he last saw Yang toss off the cliff and into the river.

"A chokutō with this 'Dust' infused into the blade," he continued as he analyzed the sword. "An impressive weapon, I must admit."

Afterward, he tossed Wilt towards Adam, allowing him to catch it by the handle, much to the Faunus terrorist's confusion.

"But I prefer something a touch more...traditional."

To prove his point, he then reached into the second scabbard and unsheathed a seemingly normal katana, grasping it with both hands as his armor's red optics continued to gaze towards his enemy.

"What are you doing?" Adam angrily pondered.

"The trial I spoke of is for myself," Ch'rell answered. "Your former followers have selected me as your replacement, but before I can assume the throne as High Leader, I have elected to show to them that their faith will not be in vain this time. And I shall do so...by killing their old, weak, cowardly leader."

A snarl of pure hatred escaped Adam's mouth as he placed both of his hands on the handle of Wilt.

"A trial by blood, if you will," the Shredder continued. "However, I am not completely without mercy. For I have allowed you the chance to die a warrior's death."

Silence overtook the throne room for several seconds before the bull-Faunus finally spoke up.

"...Finally finished with your inane babbling, I see?"

The terrorist's scowl then curved to form a devious smirk.

"Then allow me to point just how much of a fool you truly are. While you were monologuing, you've given me enough time to allow my Aura to start regenerating. Even better, you made the mistake of handing me back my weapon. You've basically ensured my victory without even knowing it!"

As soon as he finished that sentence, the Faunus terrorist fully expected his opponent to start groveling in despair and fall to his knees, begging for his forgiveness and for him to spare his life. A request that he would not even humor the idea of fulfilling.

But no.

Instead, Ch'rell started to chuckle with a sinister tone before it transitioned into a full-blown maniacal laugh. One of mockery over his adversary's hubris.

"And you call ME a fool?" the Shredder asked. "Pathetic child. I highly doubt your parlor tricks would be able to save you. Though I was hoping that your Aura would indeed regenerate. After all, we wouldn't want this to be too easy, would we?"

Adam's hands practically shook with fury as this mysterious enemy of his had the gall to stand his ground and mock him at his own throne room. He wanted nothing more than to cut this man before him down before slaughtering his former followers for this betrayal.

And so, having wasted enough time, the Faunus got himself into a fighting stance, one that the Shredder repeated, as both combatants stared each other down, waiting for someone to make the first move. Tension filled the air as the other Faunus observed the two of them second after second. Until...

"Hajime!"

The renegade Kraang was the first to dash towards his enemy, his katana raised upwards while Adam began to charge towards him in response. Once his target was close enough, Ch'rell swung his sword down towards Adam's head, only for the Faunus to jump up and above him. He made an attempt on his challenger's own head, but the Shredder was quick to act, immediately bringing his blade behind him and blocking the slash from Wilt. Once Adam landed on the floor, Ch'rell spun around and slashed his sword at his opponent, only for the former High Leader to block it with his own.

The two of them then began a series of quick yet powerful clashes against each other's weapons, each with the intent to cut down their adversary once even the smallest sliver of an opening was found, only for the defending combatant to instantly block every offensive. This cycle continued on for several seconds as Adam analyzed just who was challenging his claim to the throne. He had assumed that with such a bulky and cumbersome suit of armor that his enemy would be nothing but a slow brute, relying on his strength to win this fight. But this theory was quickly proven wrong as his speed and strength seemed to be perfectly balanced, resulting in the bull-Faunus' defensives only just barely saving him from his still-healing Aura being depleted.

Still, Adam continued to believe that this fight was going to end in his victory, for he had one thing he was certain his challenger did not: His Semblance, Moonslice. And with the latest deflection of Ch'rell's attack, the Faunus felt he had wasted enough of his time and decided to end this here and now. The energies built up in his sword and his hair started to glow blood-red before swinging his sword outward, a curved burst of energy emanating out of his blade and impacting Shredder's katana, sending it flying blade-first into a nearby wall and causing Ch'rell to stumble back slightly.

Seeing his opening, the Faunus let out an angered battle cry and lunged towards the Shredder, ready to decapitate him with one slice. However, Ch'rell's gauntlets suddenly deployed two two-pronged wrist blades, similar to the ones utilized by his namesake on Earth, before swiftly swinging his arms into a crossed position, catching the blade of Wilt just inches away from his armor's head. The Faunus' eye widened in shock before his opponent harshly kicked him square in the gut, the sheer force of which knocked the air out of him and sent him flying into a group of White Fang soldiers. Adam's former followers managed to grab him and shove him back towards Ch'rell, who then delivered a harsh punch to the terrorist's face.

The impact caused Adam to fall flat on his face, blood spurting out of his mouth despite his Aura protecting him, due to how powerful the impact was. He let out a growl as he started to get back up, only for Ch'rell to grab him by the back of his uniform and, with only one hand, toss him through the wall of which his katana was currently jabbed into. The wall crumbled upon impact, causing Adam to disappear into the darkness of the dimly lit room, as well as the Shredder's weapon to fall to the ground. Said intergalactic shogun proceeded to advance through the hole, but not before reclaiming his blade.

The alien shogun stepped past the hole in the wall, instantly noticing an open door to an adjoining room and the brief glint of Adam's weapon before it retreated out of Ch'rell's sight. The optics in the Shredder's armor narrowed at this sight before he made his way through the door. Once he had done so, it suddenly closed behind him, leaving him completely surrounded by darkness.

"Ah...I see," he said. "You believe that the shadows will bring you your victory."

He then began to walk forward, slowly and calculatingly observing his surroundings as he did so.

"I understand that your kind can see quite clearly in the dark," Ch'rell continued. "And that it lead to many victories in your 'Rights Revolution.' But you are quite mistaken if you believe that it will win you THIS confrontation. For while you may have adopted the shadows..."

Suddenly, the exiled Kraang swiftly turned around and grabbed a shocked Adam by the neck right as he attempted to lunge at him from within the darkness.

"...the shadows, in fact, bow before me!"

Ch'rell then tossed Adam aside, sending him flying into a crate of fire Dust before marching towards where he landed, katana in hand. The bull-Faunus struggled to get back on his feet when he noticed his opponent making his way towards him. He turned to the crate of Dust he had knocked over and grabbed a handful, stuffing it into Blush before pointing it at the Shredder. Right before he made it to him, Adam fired the Dust, a fireball harshly making contact with the Kraang's armor, detonating on impact and sending him flying away.

Sheathing Wilt into Blush, Adam managed to get back on his feet as he saw Ch'rell slam against the wall and slump downwards onto the floor. Wasting no time on his counterattack, the Faunus charged towards his enemy, firing Wilt from the barrel of Blush towards the alien shogun's head as he did so. The sword slammed itself against Ch'rell's helmet the instant he got back on his feet before Adam jumped upwards and kicked the hilt of Wilt in mid-air, causing its blade to lodge itself into an opening in the Shredder's armor. Ch'rell then attempted to bring the blade of his own weapon down upon Adam, only for the terroristic Faunus to quickly dash out of its path, reclaiming his weapon as he did so before blocking another slash from his adversary, causing the two blades to lock as both combatants tried to assume dominance.

"How many of your kind did you send to their doom to serve your inane ambitions, Taurus?" the alien shogun questioned. "Dozens? Hundreds, perhaps?"

"If you must know, I rarely pay any mind to those who failed the White Fang," Adam answered. "For every one that falls, I only regret that my brothers and sisters could not have killed more of you weak, vile, DESPICABLE HUMANS!"

"Human?" Ch'rell repeated before chuckling sinisterly. "Boy, you could not be farther from the truth."

He then released his right hand's grip on his sword and swung it upwards, impacting Adam's jaw before he could even remotely react. The bull-Faunus stumbled backward slightly before his opponent swiftly jumped in a clockwise motion that allowed both of his feet to kick him right in the chest, causing him to fall onto his back.

"I am as far beyond human as your 'brothers and sisters' are beyond you," the renegade Kraang continued. "They fought and died for a cause they believed in. To make this world a better place for the Faunus. You? You're nothing more than a rabid dog."

Ch'rell then proceeded to lift his sword upwards as he approached his adversary, all while Adam reached for the hilt of Wilt.

"One that I shall now put to sleep!"

"ENOUGH!" Adam roared.

His hair glowing a deep shade of crimson, the terroristic Faunus quickly reacted by unsheathing Wilt halfway from Blush, blocking the blade of his enemy just inches away from his head. The impact managed to force Adam onto one knee as he attempted to get back on his feet while Ch'rell continued to apply more and more force to try and break through Adam's defense. The Faunus smirked deviously at this and, without warning, swiped his blade to his right, the sheer force of this action, thanks to his Semblance, managing to send the Shredder flying through a wall back to the throne room. The other members of the White Fang quickly scattered to get out of the way before Ch'rell's armored heap crashed onto the floor.

With an enraged snarl, the exiled Kraang started to get back on his feet, only to then see Adam rocketing through the hole he had just created and preparing his sword to disembowel his adversary. The Shredder was quick to act and immediately deflected it with his own blade. The instant the swords made contact, though, Adam immediately began a flurry of other slashes with Wilt, of which Ch'rell managed to deflect about half of. The other half, however, managed to make deep gashes in his armor due to his inability to adjust to this sudden increase of speed from his enemy so quickly.

Then, Adam jumped upwards in a counter-clockwise motion, fully intending on repaying the favor that was Shredder kicking him in the chest with both of his metal feet. However, while one kick managed to make its mark, Ch'rell wasn't about to allow the bull-Faunus to strike him again and grabbed his left leg before the offensive made its mark. Before Adam could react, Shredder, letting out an angered yell, swung him by his leg against a wall before slamming his body harshly onto the floor. His Aura took a severe hit, but, having now absorbed more energy, Adam was more than capable of continuing in his efforts to slay his opponent.

The Faunus quickly dashed back onto his feet right before Ch'rell slammed his wrist blades onto the floor and proceeded to slice the blades off with one swipe of Wilt. The alien shogun then tried to slash his katana towards his adversary, only for him to bend his back backward to evade the blade before jumping over Ch'rell and latching onto his back. Before the Kraang could attempt to get the bull-Faunus off his armor's person, Adam drove Wilt deep into his back until the blade emerged from the armor's chest where one's heart would be. The Shredder let out a cry of pain before falling to one knee in a seemingly weakened state.

Smirking at this new development, Adam pulled his sword out of his enemy's body and lept back down onto the floor before turning to his former followers. They only continued to glare at their former leader while a bat-Faunus named Yuma attempted to make his way to the former High Leader, growling as he did so, only for Trifa to place a hand in front of him to stop him.

"Let this man's death be a lesson for anyone who dares to stand against me!" Adam yelled.

He then turned back to Ch'rell, who was still on one knee, snarling with contempt as his hair began to glow once again before firing Blush to propel himself towards his downed enemy, ready to slice him in half with one fail swoop and reclaim his title.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Ch'rell, hearing his opponent's attack, placed both of his armor's hands on his sword, causing the outline of the blade and several alien inscriptions to glow a bright shade of blue. Then, his armor quickly, and without warning, twisted itself 180 degrees, causing his deep red optics to gaze towards Adam as he headed his way. The Faunus' sole eye widened as he gasped in shock right before the Shredder swung his glowing sword at Wilt, shattering its blade completely and causing both blue and red energies to explode outward and send Adam hurdling away from the renegade Kraang.

Once the Faunus terrorist stopped sliding across the floor, he tried to get back up, groaning in pain as he did so, before turning to see Ch'rell slowly rise back up, his legs adjusting themselves without his torso moving at all.

"What..." was all that could escape Adam's lips before his gaze turned to the sword the Shredder continued to hold, which now began to crackle with energy.

"Feast your eye on the instrument of your demise, Adam," he said. "With this sword, I laid enemy compounds to waste, brought their bases to ground, and vanquished entire armies."

He then pointed the blade of his weapon towards the bull-Faunus, all while it started to glow brighter and brighter with every second.

"Feast your eye on the Sword of Tengu!"

Suddenly, a burst of energy erupted from the sword, hitting Adam, causing him to cry out in pain as his Aura was finally depleted once again before he slammed against a wall and slumped to the ground. He noticed Blush laying in front of him and desperately crawled towards it, only for Ch'rell to swiftly stomp on it with his metal boot, completely crushing it. Adam then looked up at his enemy, who simply gazed down at him, before letting out a roar of pure hatred, forcing himself onto one knee and swinging his right fist at the alien shogun in a final attempt to fight back. It was for not, though, as the Shredder immediately swung the Sword of Tengu at his arm, slicing it off at the elbow. The Faunus cried out in agony as he immediately clutched the bloody stump to try and stop the bleeding while Ch'rell slowly encircled him.

"The trial is now complete," he began. "I have won, Adam Taurus. The White Fang officially belongs to me now, and I shall ensure that it will succeed where you have failed!"

He then stopped once he stood behind his fallen adversary, who only continued to wince in pain as he tried to stop the mass bleeding in his arm.

"Still, I will admit, you fought well. And so, take comfort that you shall die with just the slightest hint of honor."

Ch'rell raised his weapon upwards and brought it through Adam's stomach, causing the bull-Faunus to cough out his own blood as he tried to yell out in pain. The Shredder then proceeded to slice the terrorist's stomach open before finally pulling the Sword of Tengu out. Adam, weakening second by second, looked down at the pool of his blood before falling over, the life fading from his eye. His former followers showed no remorse for their former High Leader while his killer grasped the blade of his weapon with his armor's free hand and wiped the blood of his slain enemy off before sheathing it on his back.

"Dispose of the body," Trifa ordered.

Six White Fang members rushed to Adam's corpse, each of them grabbing a different appendage before lifting it up and walking out of the throne room. As that was going on, Ch'rell began to walk back to his throne and sat upon it, looking down at his new followers, who proceeded to kneel to show their respect.

"We serve the new High Leader of the White Fang," Yuma announced.

"Then you serve...The Shredder," Trifa stated as she stood by her leader's side.

"Arise," Ch'rell ordered.

The White Fang members then rose back onto their feet as they awaited the new High Leader's speech.

"My new followers, I assure you all that I will indeed make good on what I said to your former leader as I took his life. Under my leadership and tutelage, we deliver to mankind the righteous justice they deserve for what they have done to you. We shall build a new world where the Faunus are given the utmost respect. No more subjugation by the inferior species. No more hiding in the shadows out of fear. We shall burn the kingdoms down if we must and rebuild them from their ashes! And in time, these prejudices you faced will be a thing of the past. The humans will fear you, and generations of Faunus to come shall finally know peace...Dismissed."

With that word spoken, the Faunus in the throne room dispersed to begin their new crusade against humanity. Trifa was about to step down and join them, only for Shredder to place a hand in front of her.

"Not you, Trifa," he stated. "As my first lieutenant, there are a few matters we must discuss in private."

"This is about Blake, isn't it, Master Shredder?" Trifa questioned.

"Correct," Shredder answered. "She is the key to Project: Black Sky's success."

"Forgive me, Master, but I must ask," Trifa replied. "Why her? Why not the other girl she was with? She matches the description our scouts in Anima gave in regards to Raven Branwen's daughter. Surely that amount of power she no doubt wields would make her a better-"

The spider-Faunus stopped instantly when Ch'rell swiftly turned his armor's head towards her, glaring into her eyes with his deep red optics. A frightened Trifa quickly bowed before her new High Leader in an attempt to apologize for her decorum.

"Simple power is nothing, Trifa," the Shredder stated. "Skill is everything. And that girl, though skilled, is nothing compared to Belladonna in that regard."

"Y-Yes, Master," Trifa responded. "P-Please forgive me."

Ch'rell said nothing in response. Instead, his armor's head simply turned away from the Faunus, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Still, there is something that troubles me in regards to this project," the alien continued. "With the limited resources at my disposal, I am not certain that our plans for young Blake would even work to begin with...We may need to test this project once it is complete before moving on to her."

"I believe I may know of the perfect test subject, Master Shredder," Trifa interjected, causing her master to turn back to her once more.

"Oh?" he asked. "And who might that be?"

Trifa then pulled out her scroll and opened it, revealing a picture of a girl with brown hair tied to a ponytail, gray eyes, tan skin, and dark spots on her face, arms, and legs.

"Her name is Ilia Amitola," Trifa answered. "She turned against our brothers and sisters at Haven and defected the White Fang. She is also close friends with Blake. She'll not only make for an excellent test subject but can also lead Blake to us."

"Yes," Ch'rell said. "If your scouts' reports of her attempting to gain entry into Atlas are true, then it shall save us the trouble of trying to infiltrate such a well protected kingdom when we can simply draw her out."

"When last our scouts saw her, she was here in Mistral," Trifa added. "I can go and claim her at once if you so command."

"Then go," the Shredder ordered. "Find her. Bring her to me alive."

"It will be done, Master Shredder," the spider-Faunus responded with a bow.

And with that, Trifa turned and left the throne room to carry out her task, all while Ch'rell continued to sit upon the White Fang's throne. The pieces continued to fall into place. He now had the army he had sought after, and soon, he would be able to carry out what he had been planning for years.

His revenge.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity of falling, Adam hit the ground hard and instantly felt the heat rising from the rocky surface. Fighting the pain he was currently in, he slowly rose to his feet to try and get a better view of his surroundings. He noticed that he stood at the edge of a cliff that looked down upon what appeared to be a large, almost sleazy looking city that was practically drenched with every fowlic sin anyone could possibly commit. To the Faunus' right was what appeared to be a large billboard that read 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' (as well as a spot of graffiti that read 'Cherri Bomb wuz here, bitches.')

Perplexed, Adam was about to make his way to this city to try and find the answers he sought as to where he was when two chains with hooks attached to the ends of them suddenly burst out of the ground upon which he stood and dug themselves deep into his hands. He barely had any time to cry out in pain before a large chasm opened bellow him and the chains pulled him into the darkness.

When Adam finally came to, he found himself on his knees, a searing pain coming from his hands. He turned to each of them to see that the hooks had still dug deep into his flesh. Outside of that, darkness was all that surrounded him...save for what was directly in front of him.

From out of the shadows were a pair of hands, the skin of each was bleached white, with one resting on an armrest while the other held an odd, golden cube with strange, intricate markings across every dimension of its shape. The Faunus let out a snarl as he attempted to lunge towards this stranger that hid within the darkness, only for the chains that held his hands to pull away from him and raise upward, causing him to hang by these chains as they continued to tear into his flesh. Then, Only then could Adam let out a cry of agony as the pain got worse and worse by the second.

"What is your pleasure, Adam Taurus?" the figure asked.

The voice surprised the former High Leader. It seemed to have a hint of regalness and class to it, dignified even, but with a barely noticeable tone of sinister intent from deep within. However, that feeling didn't last long as he immediately began to thrash about like a wild animal trying to free himself, fighting the pain that still encompassed both of his hands.

"What are you talking about?" he growled. "Who are you?! SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Your pleasure," the figure answered, completely ignoring his second question as well as his demand. "All mortals have that which they truly desire above all else. That which they would go great lengths and make many sacrifices to obtain. That which would give them a sensation of euphoric bliss, unlike any sensation they had felt before. And so, I ask again...What is your pleasure?"

As he continued to listen to this stranger speak, his struggles got weaker and weaker as the pain became too much for him to bear. He finally ceased thrashing about when the figure repeated his question, though he did continue to give him a spiteful glare with his sole working eye.

"What I want...is them dead..." he finally answered. "Blake...Yang...Trifa...that freak which now sits upon MY throne! I want their heads for what they've done to me!"

"Ah..." the figure responded. "You desire vengeance. You are not the first whose pleasure is to scorn those who have wronged you, nor will you be the last. Even so, that is something I can certainly grant you...provided you assist me with something first."

"And that is?" Adam questioned.

"The kingdom of which you now inhabit, a change in leadership is required to ensure its survival," the figure answered. "Work with me to accomplish this goal, and your enemies will not just die...they will suffer. Suffer a fate of which legends are made of. A fate that will be whispered throughout the land for all of eternity."

The mere thought of what his enemies enduring such a horrific fate was enough to intrigue the terroristic Faunus. He mulled it over for a few seconds before finally deciding that he would assist this stranger for the time being. Though there was still one thing that perplexed him.

"This kingdom you speak of...which one?" he asked. "Vacuo? Atlas?"

In response to this question, the figure placed the box he was holding on the right armrest of the chair he was seated upon.

"My apologies, it seems as though in the midst of my proposition I had forgotten to introduce you to this world you now find yourself in," he said as he slowly rose upwards. "Allow me to correct that error."

He then slowly began to step out of the shadows, and upon finally being illuminated before the Faunus terrorist, Adam's eye widened in fright as a chill ran down his spine.

The figure that had been speaking to him was a tall, lean and thin humanoid wearing black vestments and with certain patches of flesh on his chest being completely skinned. And yet, despite that, Adam's eye was fixated on his head. Hairless, scarred with several deep groves that perfectly ran across both horizontally and vertically, and at every intersection had what appeared to be pins hammered through the bloodless flesh of his head.

His black, almost dead eyes observed his new servant's response to his ghastly appearance before finally speaking.

"Welcome...to Hell."

* * *

 **[1] - To witness Ch'rell's arrival on Remnant, read Part 12 of The New Frontier**


End file.
